By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Uncertainty has beheld the people of Nanka community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, as yet-to-be-identified armed men stormed a public function and abducted no fewer than eight men after beating up the participants at the event.
The incident happened on Wednesday in Amakor village, Nanka, where the people were hosting an ọzọ title-taking ceremony.
According to an eyewitness who managed to escape, Mr. Paul Ezike, about three persons — Peter Emerie Ilo and Chike Ilo (who are brothers to the Amakor village Chairman, Barr. Obinna Ilo), and Madueke Nwafor — were being initiated into the ọzọ society at the well-attended event, before the men stormed.
He added that the organizers of the event made security arrangements before the event and also notified the police, after which four policemen were deployed to the venue of the event that day, for security.
He, however, explained that, while the event was in its climax, some armed men, some of whom covered their faces, stormed the venue, in the company of some members of the community (including former Chairman of village, Mr. Chinedu Nwankwo, and a Caretaker Committee Chairman of the village, one Mr. Ejike Nwafor), and began to ‘act’ immediately.
According to Ezike, the policemen guarding the venue tried to resist the people, but were ‘overpowered’ by the armed men.
Continuing, he said, without any explanation, or engagement with the organizers of the event, the men began to ‘scatter’ things in the venue, intimidate, and brutalize many of the participants and the organizers, even to the point of kicking some of them on their manhood, while the armed men stood and watched, including some of them dressed in police uniform.
He said the climax of it all was that, after brutalizing the people, many of them, numbering about eight persons (including the Amakor village Chairman, Barr. Obinna Ilo, Emerie Ilo, Sam Eminike, and Chief Asina Okafor, among others), were bundled into some awaiting Sienna vehicles and driven out to an unknown destination; while some other participants managed to escape and went into hiding since then.
Ezike revealed that since then, the whereabouts of the abducted men have remained unknown till date, as no official contact had been made to any of their family members by the abductors. He also noted that the phone numbers of the people have remained switched off since then, even as the identities of their abductors and the reason for their abduction remain yet unknown, thereby throwing the families and the entire community into uncertainty.
Corroborating Ezike’s narration, one of the men who managed to escape during the invasion, Mr. Chike Ilo, attested that two of his brothers, Obinna Ilo and Emerie Ilo were also among those abducted.
He also attested that no contact has been made to their family up till now concerning the whereabouts of their brothers or the identities of those who abducted them. This, he said, has remained a serious source of worry and devastation to the Ilo family of Amakor Nanka and other families whose relatives were abducted.
When asked if he had made any official report to the police regarding the incident, Ilo, who had gone into hiding since then, could not confirm if other members of the family had done so.
When contacted by this reporter, the President-General of Nanka Progressive Union, Mr. Ifeanyi Ezeike said he would not make any comment on the incident because he was not in town and was not around when the incident happened.
“I am not disposed to respond to anything on that because I’m not in town,” he said and hung up the call.
Efforts by the reporter to contact the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the village, Mr. Ejike Nwafor, proved abortive, as he declined to respond to his calls or return same thereafter.
On his own part, when this reporter contacted him, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Anambra State Police Command, SP Ikenga Tochukwu, said he was not aware of any such incident, adding that the people should go to any closet police station and report.
Regarding the speculations that some people in police uniform were among those who abducted the men, the Police Spokesman said police don’t abduct or kidnap.
“Police don’t kidnap, and the Police don’t abduct. If they were arrested, police would have reached out to their families; they would allow them to make calls. So, we don’t operate like that,” SP Ikenga said.
As it stands now the families of the abducted persons are currently trapped in uncertainty, as they remain worried over the whereabouts, the plights, and the fate of their relatives.
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