Setting ablaze of vigilante operative, abduction of hospital officials, other top stories from South-east

This is a review of top events which occurred in Nigeria’s south-east within the past week.

From the setting ablaze of a vigilante operative in Anambra to the abduction of personnel of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nigeria’s south-east witnessed more attacks within the past week.

Gunmen kill man, kidnap wife, daughter in Enugu

The week began on a painful note on Sunday when some armed persons, suspected to be kidnappers, killed a yet-to-be-identified man, who was travelling with his family within Eke-Egede-Affa Road in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The gunmen attacked the family, killed the man on the spot and abducted his wife and daughter, witnesses said.

The incident highlights the growing insecurity in the state and South-east region.

Police investigate assault of civilians by officers in viral video

The police in Ebonyi State, on Sunday, announced that they would investigate some operatives seen in a viral video clip assaulting two men in the state.

In the 30-second clip, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, some armed police operatives, numbering about five, were filmed flogging the men along a road.

Some of the operatives later attempted to bundle one of the assaulted men into their Toyota Hilux pickup truck parked along the road while still beating and kicking him violently.

The police spokesperson in the state, Joshua Ukandu, said the incident was being investigated, and that the operatives involved would be sanctioned.

The incident was another painful sign that police brutality and harassment of Nigerians have not slowed down despite police authorities constantly sanctioning their operatives engaging in such acts.

Killing of a university student by cultists

The Abia State Government, on Monday, announced that a student of the Abia State University was killed during a clash between rival cult groups in Abia State.

The government said it had commenced an investigation into the death of the student and that it had dispatched security agencies to take control of the situation at the university.

Clashes by suspected cultists have been frequent in Abia State in recent times.

The latest incident is expected to stimulate a strong government response to address the recurring clashes.

‘You’re incompetent,’ governor slams local council chairperson over shoddy job

On Monday, we reported how Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State slammed the Chairperson of Ogbaru Local Government Area in the state, Paschal Aniegbunam, over a shoddy road construction project.

Mr Soludo, who was inspecting Relief Market- Obodo-Ukwu Road in Okpoko within the council area on 6 March, criticised the chairperson over his failure to ensure the construction of a walkway at the ongoing road project in the area.

“If I come here again and see all this rubbish here, I will sack you publicly. You are incompetent,” Mr Soludo yelled at Mr Aniegbunam, a video clip of the incident showed.

The governor’s action, observers say, indicates his willingness to ensure that awarded projects in the state were properly executed.

Imo Attack: Police confirm death of fifth victim, convene security meeting

The police in Imo State, on Monday, gave an update about an earlier attack on Friday in Abacheke Community in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state.

We had reported how the gunmen invaded the community, and killed four people, with another seriously injured by bullets.

The masked armed men, dressed in military camouflage, were said to have entered the community on three motorcycles.

Henry Okoye, the police spokesperson in the state, later confirmed in a statement that the fifth victim had died.

Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said the commissioner of police in the state, Aboki Danjuma, on Monday, convened “a pivotal security meeting” with leaders of the Abacheke Community over the attack.

The meeting focused on ways of stopping the killings in the community, he said.

The attack is a painful reminder that insecurity in the state and South-east is yet to abate.

Army uncovers IPOB firearms factory, arrests six

The Nigerian Army announced, on Tuesday, that its troops uncovered and neutralised a major firearms and drone manufacturing factory, operated by armed fighters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Delta State, south-south Nigeria.

The army said six members of the IPOB militia arm, Eastern Security Network (ESN), were apprehended during the operation at the factory which is at Onicha Ulona in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta.

For years, the Nigerian army and other security agencies have continued to raid suspected hideouts of the IPOB, a group seeking the secession of South-east and parts of South-south from Nigeria.

Abduction of UNTH deputy director, one other in Enugu

It was a sad day on Tuesday in Enugu as gunmen attacked the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku Ozalla and abducted a female deputy director in the hospital as well as a security officer attached to the facility.

UNTH is the teaching hospital of the University of Nigeria.

The deputy director identified as Ngozi Mbah, was trailed to the premises of the hospital around 9 a.m. on Tuesday by the gunmen, who shot at her SUV vehicle, some staff members of the hospital told this newspaper.

Ms Mbah is also a nurse at the facility.

The police in Enugu State would later announce the rescue of the security officer and assured that efforts were ongoing to rescue Ms Mbah.

The female nurse was yet to be rescued at the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, that was not the first time the hospital was attacked. Gunmen had, in November 2023, abducted a resident doctor attached to the hospital.

The resident doctor, Orockarrah Orock, would later escape from captivity after a few hours.

Sentencing of man to three years imprisonment for stealing phone

We also brought you a story of an 18-year-old man who was sentenced to three years imprisonment by a magistrate court in Enugu State for stealing a phone

The convict, Promise Happy, was earlier arrested by police operatives in the state at about 7 p.m. on 8 March at Christ Chemist Roundabout in Enugu, the police in the state said.

The police said an investigation revealed that the convict had been on the police watch list for similar offences.

The convict hails from Ozonogogo in Agbor Local Government Area of Delta State, south-south Nigeria, but resides in New Garriki Market, Awkunanaw, a community in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Setting a vigilante operative ablaze

It was a black Thursday in Amichi, a community in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State when gunmen attacked the office of Anambra State Vigilante Group in the community.

Residents told this newspaper that the attackers, in their numbers, entered the community, headed to the security office and engaged vigilante operatives in a shootout

The gunmen razed a section of the security facility and a Sienna vehicle belonging to the vigilante operatives, a video clip apparently shot shortly after the attack showed.

A man, who could not be immediately identified, was set ablaze by the gunmen during the attack which lasted for about an hour.

But the police in the state would later confirm that the man set ablaze by the hoodlums was a vigilante operative.

The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Aderemi Adeoye, vowed that the police would track down the gunmen who carried out the attack in the community.

Amnesty’s call on Tinubu to investigate extrajudicial killing of pro-Biafra protesters

Amnesty International Nigeria, on Thursday, continued its call on President Bola Tinubu to investigate extrajudicial killings in south-east Nigeria.

The human rights group alleged that Nigerian security forces, led by the military, carried out “extrajudicial executions and violence” in the region from August 2015 to August 2016.

It said at least 150 “peaceful pro-Biafra protesters” in the South- east were killed by the security forces during the operations within the period.

“To uphold human rights, @officialabat (Tinubu) must investigate this and other gross human rights violations to tame impunity and ensure justice,” the group said.

Several groups, such as IPOB, have sprung up in the South-east, agitating for an independent state of Biafra which they want carved out of the South-east and some parts of the south-south.

Nigerian security agencies have been linked to the killing of innocent residents in the South-east in an attempt to clamp down on the secessionist groups.