According to the Vanguard newspaper, The attack allegedly perpetrated by the people of Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State left the people of Azuofia-Edda community reeling in shock due to the unprecedented level of destruction, including the alleged beheading of three persons.
Vanguard was told that the attackers reportedly numbering 500 came from Ofomana, Ogwurude (Ekori), Ofonama, Okinbogha, Ogamana, Ovurokponu, Okpechi, Ofenagama, Eja and Ujitum communities, all in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State. The attack was said to have started by 4am with sporadic shootings from the hoodlums. It was gathered that the attackers besieged Azuofia-Edda community with sophisticated weapons, including guns, machetes, axes, motorized saws and petrol. In the event, all the buildings, including duplexes, bungalows and even mud houses belonging to the affected community, were razed.
The attack on the affected communities in Ebonyi State occurred after the people of Ovurokponu village in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State on January 10, 2017 accused the people of Azuofia-Edda community of Abakaliki LGA of allegedly beheading a commercial motorcyclist, one Isagha, in their village. According to sources, the deceased had gone to Nwida market in Edda community of Abakaliki on the fateful day and carried a female passenger.
“They travelled about 30 kilometres, passing through villages, farmlands, rice swamps and forest areas around Ophenna area. The passenger narrated that while they were riding, they noticed that they were being followed from the market by another motorcycle carrying two men. She said they didn’t know that they were being trailed until they stopped at a junction in Ophenna village where the other motorcycle speed past them and waited in the front.
“They sensed danger yet failed to report their suspicion to anyone in Ophenna village. They zoomed off and passed the assailants on the way who kept trailing them; passing through the centre of Ophenna village. It was when they got to the outskirt of the young man’s village of Ovurokponu, some kilometres away, that they were double-crossed. The woman reported that the assailants asked her to run away. She hid in the bush and watched them shoot the young man (Okada rider). They asked her again to run when they noticed she was watching before beheading the young man. “As soon as the Ovurokponu people informed the people of Azuofia-Edda community of Abakaliki of what happened, the villagers reached out to them to broker peace. They assured them that they had inquired from their youths using the traditionally stipulated means and were assured that no one from Azuofia-Edda community took part in the killing of the motorcyclist.
They invited their elites in Abakaliki town who immediately reached out to the elite of the Obubra people in Calabar town, including Hon. Ernest Irek, former member of the House of Representatives and the Paramount Ruler of Obubra Local Government Area, HRH Chief Clement Obogha and others, and tried everything possible to get them to understand that the act was not carried out by anyone from the Abakaliki side but they insisted on avenging their son and warned that they were coming for war.” Vanguard investigations revealed that after several efforts by the elite from Abakaliki on January 12 to resolve the issue, the Obubra people assured their counterparts from the Abakaliki side that there would be no crisis and agreed to a meeting in Abakaliki town. But this was not to be.
A community member from the area said, “The Friday of the attack was the supposed day for the peace talk to hold. The elders from Azuofia- Edda of Abakaliki and their elite said their efforts to assure the Obubra people that they were innocent of the crime, including inviting them to a round table meeting was reflection that the people of Azuofia-Edda in Abakaliki are peace lovers. “Let it be noted that the only route accessible to the over seven villages of Obubra who came for the attack was through Azuofia-Edda community. That is if the Abakaliki people had planned on attacking them as they alleged, they would have done so while they passed through their road every day to the Nwida market, the Abakaliki rice mill and the markets in Abakaliki, Enugu, Onitsha and indeed the rest of the country.
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