Men of the Nigeria police force on Thursday reportedly invaded Onuafor market, a community market in Nkomoro community, Ezza North LGA of Ebonyi state in apparent retaliation for the killing of two policemen by unknown gunmen on Tuesday 13 September 2022 according to witnesses.
The policemen who came in two Sienna cars and five Hilux Vans started shooting sporadically and arresting people indiscriminately as traders scampered for safety. Sources said that many people were wounded while goods worth millions of naira were also destroyed by the policemen. About 15 persons were arrested and whisked to Abakaliki, Ebonyi state capital. Those arrested include Chika Nwali and Mr. Isaac Ogbonna a patent medicine dealer among others.
A human rights organization, Human Rights Defenders Foundation (HURIDE) which disclosed this through a press statement condemned the activities of the policemen at the Onuafor Nkomoro market square where innocent natives with known business addresses were summarily rounded up and bundled to Abakaliki where they may be tagged Unknown Gunmen and possibly treated as such.
“ For clarity purpose, the unfortunate attack on the police operatives happened at the boundary between Ogboji Ezza North and Agba Ishielu communities. Why then was the indiscriminate police arrest carried out in Onuafor Nkomoro market which is quite distant from the scene of the police attack?”
“ The unwarranted attack on the police operatives by the unknown gunmen is utterly barbaric and highly condemnable,” the group said in the statement signed by its Ebonyi state chairman Sampson Oko Nweke.
The group urges the Ebonyi state commissioner of police to order a proper investigation of the activities of his men in Onuafor Nkomoro market to ensure the arrested traders and community leaders are released immediately and without further torture.
A prominent community leader in the community told NOHR that he was surprised the police invaded his community despite the fact that the slain policemen were killed several kilometers away from his community. “ I learned that unknown gunmen ambushed and attacked some policemen at a checkpoint between the boundary of Ndiagu Ogboji and Agba communities, which is a distance away from my community. I was surprised when I got back to my community two hours later to discover that everyone has fled. The police destroyed several buildings and arrested 15 persons including a drunk. The men are still detained at the Ebonyi state police command headquarters in Abakiliki” he said.
