Fear in Anambra over killing of guards, burning of LG secretariat
By Chinwe Nwacha, Onitsha
Palpable fear, has allegedly gripped residents of Anambra State over the alleged killing of four guards and setting ablaze of Ihiala Local Government secretariat, by yet to be identified gunmen who were said to have stormed the secretariat in the wee hours of Thursday.
The hoodlums were said to have on arrival at the secretariat, first killed the guards prior to setting ablaze about five administrative buildings even as they shot indiscriminately into the air to scare anybody that may challenge them during the operation.
Travellers and road users who passed through the council headquarters that is along the ever-busy Onitsha/Owerri expressway, Ihiala, expressed fear as they passed, even as the police, military and other security agencies paraded the axis, displaying their weapons of war.
Mrs Comfort Oganeme, a trader in Ihiala market told this correspondent that she did not sleep last night due to the constant gunshots that rented the air.
"My house is not that close to the secretariat but the type of gunshots I heard, were terrible that they could send one to be deaf. I am a trader in Ihiala market and sometimes I will send my children to go and hawk at the secretariat.
"This morning they came back telling me that there was nobody in the secretariat because of the burning and killing of security men that guard the secretariat.
"The corpses of the innocent guards are still there begging for evacuation as people only storm to have a glimpse of the corpses and runaway as they came over fear of attack," she stated.
Recall that Ihiala has been in the centre of attack in the recent as its Divisional Police headquarters was few weeks ego set ablaze by the rampaging gunmen.
Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Tochukwu Ikenga, (DSP), said that one of the attackers was neutralized by the police who stormed the scene on a tip-off.
He said further that police have intensified effort towards arresting the gunmen who were responsible for the early morning attack on the council secretariat.