Despite IPOB’s claims that the Monday sit-at-home has been suspended, gunmen have continued to attack residents (in the South-East) who open their businesses or are found on the streets.
Masked gunmen suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Monday, attacked Obollo-Afor town in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria’s South-east, and dispersed residents who opened their shops for business.
The Nation newspaper reported that the gunmen, who came into the commercial town on motorcycles, destroyed a Sienna vehicle belonging to a vigilante group, the Udenu Central Neighbourhood Watch.
The vigilantes, too, ran away on sighting the gunmen.
The gunmen set ablaze a tricycle after discharging its passengers and pushing away the owner, the paper said.
“They had guns, knives and whips with which they dispersed people. They didn’t shoot at anybody.
“Their faces were covered. I am still shaking from the shock. I thought they would attack me since my shop was open at the time they passed.
“Later on, I heard they were beating some people and asking others to go back home,” the paper quoted a panic-stricken trader as saying.
Normalcy was said to have returned to the community after a team of soldiers, mounting a checkpoint along the road, arrived in the town.
In a related development, gunmen were said to have attacked two people in Amauke and Ogrute communities in Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local government Area, Enugu State.
A resident of the area, Emeka Peter told Premium Times the gunmen snatched a motorcycle from an unidentified cyclist at Amauke and broke the head of a resident at Ogrute in the community.
Mr Peter said the villagers believe the same group carried out the separate attacks.
“They collected somebody’s bike in Amauke; in Ogrute, they broke somebody’s head there. It was an attack. So, they broke the guy’s head. They were armed with guns,” he said.
In Enugu metropolis, residents shunned the streets. Major markets did not open for business in compliance with the Monday sit-at-home.
However, there was no report of shooting or attack by gunmen as of the time of filing this report.
IPOB had suspended the Monday sit-at-home order across the South-east in September, in preference to locking down the region any day the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu appears in court for his trial for alleged treason.
Despite the suspension, the Monday sit-at-home order has continued to be obeyed by residents in the region, mostly out of fear.
IPOB has been linked to deadly attacks in the South-east and the South-South.
