From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
There is palpable tension and apprehension in Imo State, particularly at Awomama, a neighbouring community to Governor Hope Uzodimma hometown, Omuma, in Oru East Local Government Area, following the shooting to death of 14 youths suspected to be members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
But the natives have insisted that the victims were wedding guests and in no way connected to the Biafra agitators. They also heaped the blame on the doorsteps of the state government and its Ebubeagu security outfit.
Imo State government said the youths were killed at Otulu, Awomama in an operation involving the Department of State Service (DSS), which acted on credible intelligence provided by a former member of the ESN in the area. The State Director of DSS has also confirmed that his men carried out the operation in the interest of public security.
As the controversy over what actually happened raged, the Igbo National Council (INC), former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Eze Madumere, ex-Secretary to the State Government, Uche Onyeagocha and many others have condemned the gruesome murder of the innocent youths.
Onyeagocha said it was a clear case of state-sponsored killings whether the Ebubeagu or the DSS carried it out. He explained that the natural pattern was that any security agency that shot or killed suspected criminals in an operation would evacuate their bodies. But this was not the case in Awomama as their killers abandoned the bodies of the victims and fled the area.
Already, IPOB has declared war on the Ebubeagu in Imo State, even as it placed N2 million bounty on the commander of the security outfit alleged to have master-minded the dastard operation. However, the INC said it did not believe the explanation of the state government. It insisted that the Ebubeagu killed the young men.
INC’s President, Chilos Godsent in a statement, yesterday, berated Governor Uzodimma for allowing such incident to happen under his watch as chief security officer of the state.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to wade into the matter and disband the Ebubeagu security outfit in Imo with urgency.
“We wish to remind Senator Hope Uzodimma that sooner or later, he will cease to be governor of Imo State, and will pay dearly for the crimes that he has committed against Imo people,” Godsent said.
MASSOB had within the week called for the disbandment of the Ebubeagu security outfit, alleging that it was “primarily established as a witch-hunting outfit to fight political enemies of Uzodimma and non-violent pro-Biafra agitators.”
Also, the new Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Lucius Ugorji condemned the spate of bloodletting and senseless killings in the state, which he added, was becoming alarming.
In a statement in Owerri on Friday, the Metropolitan Archbishop said: “Our soil has been defiled by the abominable shedding of innocent blood. We are becoming a society that has no regard for the sanctity of human life and are ready to waste human life at the least provocation. How many of our youths have been cut down in their prime?
“No society can flourish or survive when her future leaders and productive sector of the population are mercilessly mowed down for mere suspicion. Like Abel’s blood (Gen 4:10), the blood of many slaughtered youths in our land is crying to high heaven. Similarly, like the lamentations of Rachel at Ramah (Gen 30:1), the lamentations of mothers, who have lost their beloved ones at Awomama, are inconsolable.
“Law and order are not synonymous with jungle justice. While no one should condone any form of banditry or lawlessness from any quarters, yet jungle justice and extra judicial killings cannot be a solution to the challenges of law and order. Let us reiterate here that we condemn all killings from all quarters, whether private or public, whether by overzealous, trigger-happy security men or by paramilitary or cults groups.”