Security operatives have reportedly besieged a community in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area (LGA), called Iggah, where an unconfirmed number of police officers were said to have been killed.
The combined forces of the Nigerian Army and Police had allegedly stormed the community on Saturday and razed a number of houses over the incident.
The reason for such development is sketchy, as reports alleged that the unrest in Iggah started a few days after a suspected land speculator in the Adani community, invaded a rice farm in the Adarice area of the state in connivance with a senior police officer.
Police operatives were allegedly attached to the land speculator during the suspected invasion, and the youths of Iggah were reported to have resisted them, leading to a fracas between both parties.
The situation escalated and two people in mufti, subsequently identified as police officers, were allegedly killed, a report by News Express stated.
THE WHISTLER contacted the state’s police spokesperson, Daniel Ekea to confirm the report as well as get further details on the situation, but he demanded a text message. At the time of filing this report, Ekea had neither acknowledged nor responded to the text.
The resurgence of attacks in Uzo Uwani LGA appears to be hydra-headed with the reported invasion of suspected herders perpetrating attacks as well as an intra-communal crisis over land.
THE WHISTLER reported how suspected herders allegedly killed no fewer than four people at the Ugwuijero village of Nimbo also in Uzo Uwani, on April 28.
The State governor, Peter Mbah, accompanied by the State Police Commissioner had assured residents of the communities and the state in general that the perpetrators would be identified and justice would be served, but the number of attacks in the LGA seems to be increasing.
An Advance search on X, further confirms the proliferation of attacks in Uzo Uwani as videos and pictures of dead residents with their body parts severed, grieving women and men protesting the death of their loved ones, and washing of dead bodies litter the macro blogging Application.
A former governor in Anambra State, Peter Obi while noting the resurgence of insecurity in Uzo Uwani, called on the authorities “not to allow further spilling of blood of innocent Nigerians under any guise.”
He asked the state government to show visible commitment to the security of the lives and property of its residents, while demanding that security agencies become proactive in the LGA, by taking relevant actions to avert future occurrences.
The Uzo Uwani LGA of Enugu is the main agricultural bed of the state, and according to Obi, the continued insecurity there “will have far-reaching consequences on food production in the state.”
