There was tension in Umuonyeoka, Ihitteafoukwu and Okponkume communities in the Ahiazu Mbaise local government area of Imo State on Saturday as a joint team of security operatives invaded the communities and set over 15 houses ablaze.
The security operatives razed down houses said to belong to suspected members of Eastern Security Network.
It was gathered that on arrival in the communities, the security operatives who came in seven vehicles headed to the homes of their targets but on meeting their absence, set their houses ablaze.
An indigene of the community simply identified as Emmanuella said that her grandmother who was injured during the raid later went into coma.
Emeka Obasi, an indigene of the area said: “In the early hours of Saturday 12th February 2022, Umuonyeoka, a quiet and Peaceful Community in Ihitteafoukwu town, was ruffled with a seemingly Gestapo style of invasion by armed men suspected to be law enforcement agents, who came in seven cars shooting sporadically and headed to the compound of the Madus.
“It was alleged that they came to apprehend one Mr Uche Madu who is alleged to be a member of the ESN group but when they couldn’t get him, all hell was let loose and they descended on the country home of his siblings, Sonyval and Chinonso Madu which they set ablaze without allowing even a single pin to be evacuated from the building.”
Another source from Ihitteafoukwu autonomous community disclosed that the security men invaded the home of another indigene, popularly known as ‘Ekeson’, a member of a vigilante group in the community, and arrested him while he was trying to escape and later returned to set his family house ablaze with three other neighbouring houses in the compound.
He said: “Unidentified security men came to Okponkume, arrested Ekeson and burnt down their house and neighbour’s. We learnt the security men were after ESN members”
However, when contacted, the State police spokesperson, Michael Abattam, exonerated his men from the incident even as he said he was yet to be briefed on the matter. “I’m not aware of the incident, but the law enforcement agent that carried out the act can never be a police officer,” he said.
