By Francis Ogbuagu
Since the first major bloodbath which claimed more than 40 lives in Nimbo,Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State in April,2016. The State has become a slaughter slab for ravenous, blood thirsty Fulani marauders,who have taken advantage of the lackadaisical attitude to governance by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration to inflict unimaginable pain and sorrow on poverty ravaged indigenes of the communities.
Afterwards, three other major attacks had occurred,(aside ones in interval where one,two or three persons have been killed or kidnapped) each left countless number of people dead, while others have become refugees in their own land,while the governor,who has earlier shown his helplessness by publicly crying at the 2016 massacre does nothing but place frivolous congratulatory messages in major newspaper,which display as it’s headlines murder of those he was supposed to protect,as shown in most national dailies on November 25,2022.
Ugwuanyi’s unimpressive attitude to life threatening challenges like security of the citizens became embarrassingly visible at Nimbo.
On March 27, 2022, twelve persons were again killed by suspected herdsmen at a farm settlement in Mgbuji and Ebo, Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of the state. Newspaper reports had it that the attack lasted about eight hours beginning from 10 am and no security personnel,not even the state Neighborhood Watch,which obviously are overwhelmed by countless attack by unknown gunmen,lack of motivation and the superior fire power of the state sponsored,or if you like, state pampered terrorists,who enjoy killing and kidnapping in large number.
According to a security personnel who pleaded anonymity, the casualty figure is likely to increase, because some of the farmers who sustained bullet wounds ran into the bush and were yet to be rescued.
Again,on Friday, 25 November, 2022 another thirteen persons were hacked down by same group of persons (herdsmen)who invaded Agu-Amede, Mgbuji and Eboh communities, all in Eha-Amufu , Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of the state.
Reports had it that the attack just like others started when armed herdsmen, who invaded Ohualu Mgbede village in Agu-Amede on Saturday and Monday, killed eight persons
A community leader, Samuel Ezeh, who confirmed the incident to Punch correspondent in Enugu said the armed herdsmen declared war on Eha-Amufu communities, adding that between Saturday and Tuesday, no fewer than 13 persons had been killed.
Ezeh said, “Yesterday’s attack was carried out in a village called Ohualu Mgbede and seven persons were confirmed dead. That is for those we have recovered their corpses. This morning, the Fulani herdsmen came again in a village called Iyi Asa but no death hasbeen reported yet.”
A resident in Eha-Amufu, Onyekachi Odo, said the herdsmen launched the attack in the early hours, adding that people who left their homes to the farm in the morning were mostly affected.
Odo said, “Early in the year, they sacked 14 villages, looted properties and burnt houses. Now, they have come down to Eha-Amufu towns. The village of the Labour Party’s Governorship candidate for the 2023 election in Enugu State, Hon Chijioke Edeoga, has been sacked.”
The spokesman for Mgbuji community, Chijioke Ogbodo, described the attack on the community as an act of war, adding that despite alerting the state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and security agents in the state, no security operatives was mobilized to the communities as of 12pm that day
Ogbodo said, “Since the (herdsmen) started attacking our community, neither the police nor the military have arrested any of the terrorists. We received information on the attack this morning and alerted all the security agencies.
“I called the state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; I called the state Director of Security Services, and I called the state Commissioner of Police.
“We have notified all the security agencies but as of 12pm, we are yet to see any single soldier or police. Our communities are being razed down and after the attack, the government will deploy soldiers dominated by Northerners to shield the jihadists.”
“If the Nigerian police and other security agencies, especially the military cannot protect the people of the South East, then why are they after the Eastern Security Network that helped communities. . Now we can’t harvest our crops because so many of the ESN members have been killed.”
Earlier,the five Southeastern leprosy fingers, sorry governors had gambled away an opportunity to put their resources together and fund a regional security outfit that could at least put a resistance to the menace of herdsmen attack in the region just as the Southwest has done with ‘Ametokun’.
The governors in an attempt to protect their various political empires politicized the existential threat poised by the attacks of the deadly Fulani herdsmen which have been designated as the 3rd most deadly terrorists group on earth.
While Enugu people are being killed on daily basis by the terrorists,the governor, obsessed with his senatorial election campaign are moving from place to place soliciting for votes,a case of “onye oku na agba uno ya ona achu oke”,a man whose house is on fire and he pursuing rodents.
