More details have emerged on how the Nigerian Army and Police killed a father of two attending a funeral and paraded him as Unknown gunman.
The 48-year-old identified as Ifeanyi Obi was attending a funeral in Owerri, Imo State when he was shot and killed during a raid by the security operatives.
Recall that that the Imo State Police Command had on Sunday June 6 said it repelled an attack on the State Police Command Headquarters in Owerri and killed one Joseph Uka Nnachi alias King of Dragons, the suspected mastermind of series of attacks on police stations in the state.
The police also said that four other gunmen were also killed by the security operatives.
In a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the Imo Police Command, Bala Elkana, the security operatives who repelled the attack comprised of men of the Army, Police Special Forces, and other supporting security agencies.
Elkana explained that the hoodlums who planned to attack the Imo capital at about 06: 15 am, “came in a white hummer bus, wanted to access the Command Headquarters through Works Layout around Alvan Nursery and Primary School Owerri but had a bloody fight with the security forces.
“They were first Intercepted by the Military at the outer perimeter cordon provided for the Police. Five hoodlums were killed in action (KIA)including Joseph Uka Nnachi alias King of Dragons.”
The police spokesman noted that one suspect, a 30-year-old Stanley Osinachi who hails from Achi/Mberi, Mbaitoli Local Government Area of the southwest state was arrested and is being investigated.
“He confirmed that Dragon is the leader of the gang in Imo State reporting to their supreme leader Nnamdi Kanu. He stated that they belong to the proscribed IPOB and ESN,” the police statement added.
However, among the so-called gunmen killed was Ifeanyi Obi, a shoe manufacturer based in Aba, Abia State.
Rather than being arrested and properly interrogated, he was shot dead at the scene by the security agencies, his attire was stripped off him and he was paraded alongside others as an unknown gunman belonging to the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Sources and residents familiar with the incident told SaharaReporters that the victim hailed from Oguta in Imo State but resided in Aba, Abia, and it was the funeral that brought him home – he had nothing to do with the crisis in Imo. He was shot dead while still in the attire he wore to the event.
A top security source said, “The deceased was a prospering shoe manufacturer at Powerline Women’s Shoes Market in Ariaria Market, Aba. You can go and verify from his fellow traders. He was married with two kids. He had travelled to his hometown in Oguta for a funeral alongside his in-law who is married to his sister.
“That was on Friday, June 4, and two days after, on Sunday, June 6, they boarded a bus to Aba and on getting to Alvan Ikoku College of Education area in Owerri, there were rains of gunshots. The driver hurriedly discharged all passengers and asked them to find their way to safety and the passengers ran in different directions, including Ifeanyi and his in-law who ran in separate directions.
“It was where Ifeanyi ran to and was taking refuge and dodging the flying bullets that soldiers stormed and shot him dead instantly. His corpse was picked up and the trousers he wore were removed.”
It was gathered that the army and police took all the persons shot dead at the scene to the police command headquarters in Owerri.
“The next thing was that his corpse was paraded later by the security operatives with a gun placed on him as one of ‘the five unknown gunmen or Eastern Security Network (ESN) or Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) members killed during an exchange of gunfire’ while attempting to attack the Imo State Police Headquarters. We were so infuriated. How could the army and police do this? Is it because the dead don’t speak?” another source queried.
Security agencies have continued to carryout mass raids and arrests of South-East residents, shot dead some of the suspects, allegedly labelled as gunmen terrorising the region.
Two victims who were living in Umuahia, Abia State, whom residents identified as Obinna Ejekwu, 30 years old, and Onyebuchi Amadi, 27 years old and residents of the area were also killed by the police after being arrested by the army.
Both men were killed by the security operatives on May 29 and thereafter labelled as ESN members.
“Rather than using intelligence-based crime detection and investigation to go after criminal elements, the Nigerian security forces are let loose on unarmed and defenceless Igbo citizens, hatefully targeting and killing them and labelling them as terrorists,” the source who released the photographs to SaharaReporters had lamented.
A civil society organisation, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, said it called on the international community not to fold their arms amid the “silent massacre” going on in the South-East region but must prevail on the Nigerian government to respect the rule of law and sanctity of life.
