The Chairman of Afikpo South local government area of Ebonyi State, Eni Uduma Chima on Sunday disagreed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Commissioner of Information in Ebonyi state, Uchenna Orji on the killing of one person in the council on 27th of March.
The Commission, in a statement issued by its Executive Secretary, Anthony Ojukwu and reported by various national dailies, had blamed Ebonyi State Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce in Afikpo South Local Government Area for the killing.
But in a swift reaction, Mr. Orji had debunked the NHRC statement and claimed that the killing followed a clash between youths of two neighbouring communities of Ekoli-Edda and Nguzu-Edda in the area.
However, Mr. Eni, in a statement he personally signed and issued, said both the Commission and Mr. Orji’s position on the incident are grossly inaccurate.
“With due respect to the reputable Commission, it is either the source of the information was deliberately mischievous or no independent fact-finding, verification or confirmation of the information was undertaken by the Commission before heading to the press.
“Similarly, I have immense respect for the Ebonyi State Ministry of Information and State Orientation and particularly for the person of its Honourable Commissioner, Hon. Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji. The Ministry is noted for churning out reliable information, just as the Honourable Commissioner is known for disseminating bankable information at all times.
“However, the version of the killing in Afikpo-South Local Government Area on 27th March, 2020 narrated by the Honourable Commissioner for Information and State Orientation on the 18th day of April, 2020 is far from correct.
“Sure, it rightfully exonerated the Ebonyi State Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce in Afikpo South from the said killing but inadvertently substituted the Taskforce with yet, another innocent party as well as reconstructed the circumstances and scenario of the killing. It failed short of its intended purpose of putting the buck where it belongs’, he said.
Mr. Eni exonerated the Ebonyi State Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce in Afikpo South, Ekoli-Edda Youths or youths from Ekoli-Edda Autonomous community from the killing.
He however admitted that the Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce was earlier confronted by people who were holding a reception at Nguzu-Edda on that fateful day when they tried to ensure compliance with the Ebonyi State Anti-Covid 19 Measures but argued that it has no hand in the killing which occurred much later in the evening.
He said the Taskforce did not kill, did not witness the killing and was not present during the killing of anybody on 27th March, 2020 and the said killing has nothing to do with the enforcement of COVID-19 precautionary measures, rules and guidelines.
“So, the National Human Rights Commission’s report linking the killing to the Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce or enforcement of social distancing or ban on large gathering guidelines is erroneous”, he said.
Mr. Eni described Mr. Orji’s submission that there was communal youth conflict among youths from Nguzu Edda and Ekoli Edda communities over curtailment of several burials they had scheduled within the area as incorrect.
He maintained that there was no communal conflict between youths from the two sister communities of Ekoli-Edda and Nguzu-Edda on 27th March, 2020.
According to him, the violent clash of the youths (which) eventually resulted to the death of one person reported by the Honourable Commissioner did not take place.
The Council Chairman said he honestly believe that Mr. Uchenna Orji was either not well informed on the matter or was informed by an un-objective source or better still was deliberately misled by his source, thereby giving rise to the distortion of facts and circumstances of the killing as they relate to cause and parties.
“In fairness to the Honourable Commissioner, he is right in holding that ‘the killing of 27th March, 2020 has no correlation and connection with any member of the (Ebonyi) State COVID-19 Taskforce in Afikpo South L.G.A. All I am adding is that neither has the killing any correlation and connection with curtailment of burials, Ekoli Edda youths, communal youths conflict nor violent clash of the youths as he posited”, he added.
He said that what actually happened was that suspected robbers armed with rifles and machetes mounted roadblocks along Nguzu/Ekoli-Edda Road on 27th March, 2020; molesting, maiming and robbing commuters on vehicles and motorcycles to Ekoli-Edda.
He said that among the victims include a Technical Assistant to the Governor of Ebonyi State on Security and a former Local Government Chairman.
He narrated that the luck of the suspected armed robbers ran out when they robbed and maimed a Civil Defence Officer, who contacted a detachment of soldiers in a nearby military checkpoint.
The Soldiers, he stated, went after the suspected armed robbers, who in a chivalric display of drunken bravado unleashed volley of gunshots on them.
According to him, the brave Soldiers wasted no time in returning fire for fire, killing one of the suspected armed robbers in the shoot-out and overwhelming the rest with superior fire power.
He alleged that the suspected armed robbers finally fled with two of them sustaining bullet wounds.
The Council boss said the Soldiers recovered the gun of the dead suspect and took his corpse to Ekoli Edda Police post and later to Afikpo-South Divisional Police Headquarters, Owutu-Edda, from where it was deposited at the General Hospital mortuary, Owutu-Edda.
While acknowledging that the matter is under investigation at the State Police Criminal Investigation Department, Abakaliki, Mr. Eni Uduma Chima noted that the soldiers have owned up to killing the youth in self-defense.
“I am saying this for the umpteenth time; the soldiers, who killed a suspected armed robber along Nguzu/Ekoli-Edda Road on 27th March, 2020 have volunteered written statements to both the Police and to the Military Authorities at Nkwagu Military Cantonment, Abakaliki.
“The gallant soldiers are not denying responsibility for the killing. What does it take to verify these glaring facts from the Police or the Army before going to the press to accuse Ebonyi State Anti-COVID 19 Taskforce or Community Youths? It is misleading to explain the killing within the context of Anti-COVID 19 and lockdown enforcement or communal clash by the National Human Rights Commission and the Ebonyi State Honourable Commissioner for Information and State Orientation respectively; just as it is unfounded and indefensible to pin the killing on the Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce, Ekoli-Edda youths or any other person or persons other than the team of soldiers responsible for it.
“One would have let this inaccuracies slide but for fear of the Goebellian syndrome which translates oft repeated lies to ‘truth’, more so when it is spewed in high places. This is not fiction, guesswork, speculation or matter of opinion; it is about hard facts and I am the last truth in this matter because I was on ground on that very day”, he explained.
He further stated that he has seen and interacted with the victims of the suspected armed robbers, interviewed eye witnesses and have had audience with Investigating Police Officers and the team of soldiers involved and all their accounts are in harmony that Soldiers were responsible for the killing of 27th March, 2020 in Afikpo-South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and it was in connection with a lengthy armed robbery operation and subsequent shoot-out between the suspected armed robbers and soldiers.
Mr. Eni noted that in as much as the National Human Rights Commission may not have intended the outcome, the incorrect report inputting the killing to the Ebonyi State Anti-Covid 19 Taskforce has injured the corporate image of Ebonyi State and particularly Afikpo South L.G.A, having portrayed the diligent Taskforce in a bad light.
He therefore requested the Commission to either retract the report as it concerns Ebonyi State or publish a corrigendum by the same media it deployed.
He urged Mr. Uchenna Orji, the Ebonyi State Honourable Commissioner for Information and State Orientation to also issue a rejoinder to his earlier press briefing with a view to clarifying the circumstances and parties responsible for the killing.
“This is the least I expect from them”, Mr. Eni concluded
Photo: Afikpo South Local Government Area Chairman, Mr. Eni Uduma Chima.
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