Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki and Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Ebonyi State Police Command yesterday confirmed the killing of an official of the Department of State Security (DSS) by gunmen in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
This is just as the command also confirmed the murder of another 30-year old man, Boniface Nwogha, by suspected cultists at Amike-Aba area of Abakaliki.
Spokesman of the command, Loveth Odah, while confirming the incidents to newsmen in Abakaliki, said that the DSS official was shot at Onwe road area of Abakaliki, but died while receiving treatments in an undisclosed hospital in the state. She said the killers of the DSS official were not known.
According to the police, Nwogha, a plumber and father of three, living with his family at Michael Nwogha Onuba Street, Amike-Aba in Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state, was killed at about 8pm on Tuesday night.
A source from the state security outfit, who did not want his name in print, told Daily Sun that there was a misunderstanding in the compound where the deceased was lived, which led to fracas before he was killed.
Regarding the DSS official, Odah said: “You will recall that sometime before the end of last month, there was someone in Onwe road Abakaliki, who was later identified as DSS officer because an ID card was found on him. He was seen in the pool of his blood and at the end of the day, the DPO Kpirikpiri took him to hospital where he was confirmed dead and till today, the killers have remained unknown.”
Meanwhile, there was panic in Awka, the Anambra State capital, when gunmen suspected to be cultists stormed some villages and gunned down three persons on Wednesday night.
The gunmen, who were said to have released some gunshots in the air while their operations lasted, moved unchallenged through the outskirts of Umubele to Umukwa near Eke-Awka, spreading fear and sorrow as they went.
One of the victims, whose name was simply given by a source as Chief Ezeoke, was shot in the outskirts of Umubele village. The man, who hails from Umuike village, Agulu Awka, was said to have headed the vigilante unit of Awka town while alive.
Two other victims, whose identities could not be immediately ascertained, were killed in different locations in the state capital.
It was not clear what led to these latest killings as all efforts to get clarifications from the police public relations officer in the state, Haruna Mohammed, proved abortive. He neither picked nor returned calls put to his mobile phone as at the time