Fear grips residents as gunmen order 10-day lockdown in Enugu communities

Gunmen in Igbo- Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu state have ordered a 10-day-sit-at-home in the entire council area to mourn their colleagues allekilled by security agents in the area.

According to SaharaReporters, the gunmen also warned residents of the area to keep away from the popular Eke-Ozzi market at Ogrute, the council headquarters, or face their anger.

Already the gunmen have started confiscating motorcycles with Nigerian number plates and have warned school authorities to dismantle all Nigerian flags on their premises.

They have also ordered schools whose uniforms bear the green and white shades of the Nigerian flag to immediately change such uniforms. 

A resident of the area who asked not to be named told SaharaReporters that politicians in the area are behind the crisis which has now degenerated into a supremacy war between two militia groups. 

The source said, “The trouble started when some politicians in the council area split a group of thugs which they have been using during elections in the local government and trained some of them as Ebubeagu militias. 

"The splinter group is now in a supremacy or cult war with the trained Ebubeagu militias in the local government area and that is why there is chaos and insecurity in Igbo-Eze North now.” 

"Those fighting are neither members of the Indigenous People of Biafra nor Eastern Security Network," according to the source.

Another source who asked to be anonymous disclosed that people are killed almost daily in the council area. 

He said that the latest sit-at-home order followed renewed attacks on their members by operatives of Ebubeagu and Nigerian soldiers and the burning of the homes of some of their leaders at Imufu, Umuagama, and Aguibeje communities in the local government area.

On Friday, Police arrested some women in black attires who protested the killings in the area and dispersed others with teargas.

The women reportedly lamented the insecurity in the area, saying "We are angry that we do not have peace in our villages, our state, and county. We want our leaders to stop the killings of our children and other loved ones."

The Police are yet to confirm the development.

Politics and Opinion