Dons Eze
SENATE DIRECTS NIGERIAN ARMY TO COMPENSATE FAMILIES OF ENUGU RESIDENTS KILLED BY SOLDIERS
The Senate has directed the Nigerian Army to pay a condolence visit to the Eke community in the Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State and condole with the families of local security agents whom soldiers gruesomely killed.
It also directed that the Nigerian Army should sympathise with the injured, and pay adequate compensation to the families of the victims.
In June 2023 soldiers attacked to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army brutally killed two neighbourhood watch members of Eke community in Udi local government of Enugu State while they were pursuing kidnappers.
The incident happened along 9th Mile -Eke- Ezeagu road.
While the Nigerian Army confirmed the unfortunate incident, it however, denied attacking local security operatives, claiming that those killed were hoodlums.
Following the outcry by the community and civil society organisations, the Senate constituted a committee to investigate the murder.
However, after the committee submitted its recommendations on the unwarranted killings and attack on Eke Neighbourhood Guards by officers of the Nigerian Army in Eke, on June 29, 2023, the Senate on Tuesday directed its committee on compliance to ensure that the resolutions of the Senate are complied with.
The Senate as also recommended in the report of the committee headed by Senator Imasuen Neda (Labour Party Edo South), gave a graphic account of how two of the Eke Neighbourhood Guards were killed by soldiers on 29th June, 2023.
The report read, “That one faithful day, precisely on Thursday, 29th June 2023, some members of the Eke Neighborhood watch, while attending an event at 9th Mile, Udi Local Government, Enugu State, received a distress call around 6 pm, that some hoodlums have blocked the road leading to Eke community from the Nigerian Breweries.
“That, prompted by, the intelligence reports they received about the robbery attack along Eke road, the Neighborhood watch embarked on a rescue mission to salvage the situation.
“That on receiving the distress call, the CSO of the Neighborhood Watch, his deputy, and some members of the vigilante group who were all at 9th Mile for the event, notified the DPO, 9th Mile Police Station of their intention to proceed to the crime scene to rescue the victims and based on his assurance that the police are also coming, they immediately proceeded to the scene of the incident.
“On their way to the crime scene, they met a traffic gridlock around the AMA Breweries (Nigerian Breweries plc.) which made it impossible for members to arrive at the crime scene with their Patrol vehicle, hence, they had no option but to proceed to the scene on foot.”
It further said, “On getting to the scene of the robbery, they met three soldiers who ordered them to stop and they obliged.
“After they stopped, the guards who were fully kitted with their uniforms and identification cards, but without their patrol vehicle, informed the soldiers that they were members of the Eke Neighborhood Vigilante Group, this made the soldiers ask them to proceed.“On getting closer to the soldiers, the soldiers opened fire on them at close range killing two people, namely: Mr. Chukwuemeka Okeh and Mrs. Nechinyere Mbah. While the Assistant CSO, Emeka Anigbo, Obinna Offor, and Okolo Chinedu, sustained various degrees of Gunshot Injuries.”
