Dons Eze
SOLDIERS SACK CHURCH WORSHIPPERS IN ANAMBRA COMMUNITY
Panic and fear gripped Christian worshippers in Umunze, Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State on Sunday, when armed soldiers stormed different churches in the morning hours and dispersed the congregation in their places of worship.
The soldiers took over the community with a stern warning that no church service, movement or market would be allowed in the area till further notice.
A witness, Obika Ezeka, said they were traumatised when they heard gunshots at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church as worshippers arrived for the 6am Mass.
She said they were waiting for the priest to begin the Mass when one of the armed soldiers marched to the altar and asked everybody to leave the church.
According to her, the soldier, whose identity could not be ascertained, told the congregation that their colleagues were murdered on Thursday night by gunmen in the town, and there would be no movement or market till further notice.
Similarly, several armed soldiers invaded Holy Rosary Catholic Church, and SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church, disrupted the service and ordered parishioners, including priests, to leave.
Another witness, who identified himself as Ejike, said the soldiers came to St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Lomu Umunze, when a teacher was moderating the Bible Study, asked him to drop the microphone and ordered everybody out of the church.
An unconfirmed report said some of the soldiers brazenly descended on male worshippers with canes and belts for resisting their unlawful invasion of the places of worship.
It was reported that some people, including commercial cyclists and drivers found on the road on Sunday were arrested and forced to pull down a building that served as office for tipper drivers. The community quickly turned to a ghost town, as traders hurriedly locked their shops at the busy Nkwo Market.
A stranded mother, Nze Euphemia, lamented that the sudden shutdown of the market left many people starving, with no food at home. She said the soldiers would have announced a curfew so that people could buy essential food items and drugs before the sudden lockdown.
A native of Umunze said the town has been under siege by criminals that operate from neighbouring states.
According to him, more than 15 people have been kidnapped in Umunze in recent time, and huge sums of money paid as ransom before they were released.
The hoodlums recently attacked a public phone-charging centre in the town and carted away all the phones. He pleaded with the government to set up military checkpoints on Umuchu and Ogbunka roads, which have become the escape route for the kidnappers and gunmen terrorising the town.
The military checkpoints at Nawfia and Ihitte, according to him, cannot safeguard the long stretch of road from Umuchu to Ogbunka, thereby allowing kidnappers and notorious gunmen to terrorise Umunze town and escape to neighbouring states.
A viral video had emerged some weeks ago, which revealed that criminals were creeping into Umunze and Ogbunka towns with their weapons to terrorise the area. Despite the warnings, no visible security measures were taken to safeguard the volatile areas.
Further investigation revealed that a fierce gun battle broke out between soldiers and gunmen on Thursday night.
An unconfirmed report said the gunmen were seen at about 8.30pm speeding along the Umunze-Ogbunka Road, jumping the bumps and barricades in a black jeep. People selling by the roadside quickly closed their shops, thinking they were kidnappers on the prowl.
A few minutes later, soldiers arrived the area in a patrol vehicle and it was reported that a terrifying gun battle ensued hours later. In what seemed like a night of terror, dead silence prevailed in the town, and residents trembled in fear. It was reported that two soldiers lost their lives in the gun duel.
Shortly after the incident, Indigenous People of Biafra Leader, Simon Ekpa, took to the social media X to hail the tactical unit of the Biafran Defence Force, fuelling speculations that the attack was masterminded by the secessionist group.
He bragged that the Biafran Libration Army and other Defence Forces neutralised soldiers at Umunze, which possibly led to the large deployment of soldiers to the area.
The government will succeed in their fight for the security of the State if they can honestly confront the issues that breed the thriving insecurities in Enugu State and Nigeria. Unfortunately most of our government leadership lack the critical factors of legitimacy. It appears the people’s frustration and anger manifest in these intractable and painful ways that hurt the lives of the truly innocent citizens. The temporary attempts of deploying the armed forces suggest a serious war is going on but can it be fixed or won by sheer kinetic force methods? I think such methods add to the traumatization of the citizenry. If people are jobless and hungry, while the leaders live carelessly, superfluously and corruptly, what do we expect except this endless struggle.
Instead let’s implore the powerful political operators to yield to pure democratic processes, fair and free elections of the people by the people and for the people. That’s how civilized climes achieve more lasting peace. Those deploying these armed forces on the people are essentially the causes of the problem they’re trying to solve kinetically and mechanically. Can we try credible leadership instead of the tyranny of mandate stealing and winner takes all devilish audacity? The choices we make have impressive and clear consequences. Imagine we have instead free, fair, clean and pure democratic elections. We will retort and feel offended if others suggest or conclude that we are uncivilized and ignorant. Some even argue we should be recolonized!
I was a boy refugee at Umunze when the war ended January 1970. It hurts to hear what destruction and pure violation of laws and human rights of worshippers and people that are going on in that sacred community by criminal elements and the Nigerian army et al who in spite of their “superior power” during the civil war was stopped and pushed back and forth by the gallant Biafran 53 Brigade that was headquartered at Ajali, comprised of the Unicorn (U) and Dragon battalions, etc. Please let there be peace in Umunze and let the government deal first with the root causes of these conflicts. And we know the roots are deep down.
So without pretending, the government knows the real causes of the struggle but we pray they have the civilized and patriotic candor and courage, respectful and humane methodologies to honestly and selflessly deal with the practical situations their unbridled rapacity and corruption have inflicted on the common population, instead of unleashing brutal forces, and let there be peace.
The infiltration of criminal elements into the self-determination groups and apparatuses in the region is a plague that is obviously very counterproductive and wasteful of the precious lives the causes are struggling to set free. A sovereign State (Nigeria) reserves the rights to defend itself but at the same time has no rights to violently suppress the universal human rights of citizens to self-determination. Our quandary issues may never be resolved violently we should already acknowledge, except through serious diplomatic resources and accords. Maybe the global principles and practices have shifted for the better, but we’ve seen and known the futility of violent suppression.