From Stanley Uzoaru 
There was a pandemoium at Umuajioma village in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State on Sunday when a youth from the area was mistakenly hit by a stray bullet from the Ebubeagu security outfit.
A community leader from Umunganike, a neighbouring village to Umuajioma who do not want his name mentioned narrated that the incident which occurred at about 9 am saw the youths in large numbers, protesting against the presence of the Ebubeagu outfit in their locality.
According to the source,the Divisional police at Ogbuide road was said to have intervened and calmed the situation. But the angry youths we gathered later started hauling stones and chanting “We don’t want Ebubeagu in our community”.
In the ensuing melee, the Ebubeagu in an effort to defend themselves from the rampaging youths shot sporadically in the air and in the process, a stray bullet was said to have hit one of the youths who died while some were wounded.
“What you saw in the video is true,Ebubeagu came through across the Oguta lake,some boys tried to stop them ,they were saying they don’t want Ebubeagu in Oguta.
“The DPO from Ogbuide road tried to calm the situation, but the youths continued protesting outside the station,they were advancing at them when they started shooting to scare them away and in the process the boy was hit by a stray bullet,it was not intentional”. The source narrated.
Our correspondent reported that there was a viral video of the incident where the youths were chasing after the Ebubeagu outfit.
Also, when contacted for confirmation on the incident, the President General of Oguta Community Development Union(OCDU) Ajax Mberekpe said ” no comment”.
Meanwhile, the State police spokesperson, Michael Abattam is yet to respond to the incident as his phone line could not be reached when contacted.