• ‘Rape victim not dead’
The people of Eha-Amufu, a border town in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State have debunked alleged recent mass killings and arson in their communities. The indigenes spoke to reporters, who were on a fact-finding mission.
President-General of Mgbuji Eha-Amufu, Donatus Odoh, said: “On the issue of the protest being done last week or so, on the supposed killing of 100 or 200 persons in Eha-Amufu recently in one video being circulated, none of that happened.
“Nothing happened in Mgbuji, Eha-Amufu two weeks ago. But there was an incident in another autonomous community in February, where Igwurube Ndubuisi Donatus was killed, but I cannot give details because I was not there.’’
He also said although there was a rape victim from another community, he was involved in arranging her medical treatment, following government’s intervention, saying she was not dead as claimed during the protest.
“I saw the woman on a bike returning from the market the other day. She was healthy,” Odoh emphasised.
Another community leader, Chief Richard Ogenyi, said but for isolated incidents, security had continued to improve since the 2022 attack through the interventions of the state and local governments under Governor Mbah and the Council Chairman, Obiora Obeagu.
He emphasised that there were no such ongoing attacks and mass killings as portrayed by the protesters on social media recently.
“From my view, they protested against the herdmen’s invasion of our place and their inability to farm like before because as you can see, this place is called Orie Ogbete or Orie Uzo Ugbo Mgbuji. It was a lively place before the herdsmen drove us away in 2022.
“How I view what happened one or two weeks ago as an independent person is that what the women did was good because it would create awareness.
“But the truth is that there was an element of politics in the protest and I am not happy about it because they would have focused on the main issue.
“I am surprised to hear that many people were killed in Eha-Amufu. After the incident of 2022, we have not witnessed such a number of killings being circulated.
“Since Obiora Obeagu’s second term and the Governor Mbah administration, we have witnessed a lot of security improvement and insecurity has dropped drastically. As for the recent protest on ongoing mass killings, none happened in Mgbuji here where I come from apart from the damaging of crops by the herdsmen,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the rape victim from Abor Eha-Amufu, confirmed the incident.
Council Chairman, Obeagu, while admitting the existence of security challenges, refuted the story of any recent killings in the communities, except that of an undergraduate, noting that the Mbah Administration had since coming into office in 2023, continued to put in place security and infrastructural measures that had ensured that what happened in 2022 did not repeat itself.
These include the deployment of over 150 soldiers, Special Forces with Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and gun trucks, collaboration between the state government and Nigerian Army to construct military barracks in that border community, and the nearly completed 21.7km Agape-Agu Mgbuji-Ogbete asphalt road to open up our farm settlements and enhance security and vehicular access to the farmlands and forests.
He blamed bad politics and deliberate lies and misinformation for the protest.
“So, when people tell you it was a spontaneous protest, it was not. It was orchestrated, very well planned. In one of the clips I watched, a man was in the background like a hype man, trying to hype the situation. I heard him say that last week 200 people were killed, this week 100 people were killed. Yet, he did not show the burnt houses, nobody was showing any images, while the things they talked about are things that are graphic. People tried to throw up things, but when you see it, you will see those are things that happened two to three years ago. I saw a woman talking about what they did to her husband and herself in the last four years.
“In summary, we have challenges and problems, and we are dealing with them. If it was what happened in Eha-Amufu recently, there’s nothing like mass killings, nothing like burning of houses by herders, it did not happen. Feel free, go into the town and ask questions. Tell them to take you to the place all those things happened. I can bet you nobody will show you one,” he said.
