Victim of Ebonyi sit-at-home attack seeks justice, govt intervention as condition gets critical

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.. perpetrators will soon be arrested

By Peter Okutu, Abakaliki

Mr Henry Oko, one of the victims of the December 14 attack at Nwakpu market in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State by enforcers of sit-at-home order issued by Simon Ekpa, self-acclaimed discipline of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has cried out for justice and Government intervention as his condition gets critical.

The victim was at the market when some masked gunmen who claimed they were enforcing the five-day sit-at-home order, invaded the market shooting sporadically and setting vehicles ablaze.

They set his vehicle on fire, gave him deadly axe cuts in the head and shoulder before shooting him in both thighs very close to his manhood.

He was left by the hoodlums in the pool of his blood and was rescued by a combined team of the Army and Police that later stormed the scene.

Mr Oko who was rushed to the hospital by the police has pleaded with security agencies to help bring his attackers to book.

He also appealed for the urgent intervention of the Ebonyi State Government to save his life as his condition is said to be getting serious following deadly bullet and axe wounds inflicted on him by the hoodlums.

The victim who spoke with Vanguard said he escaped instant death by providence as one of the attackers had commanded that he be “wasted”.

His words: “As we were running amid the confusion when our vehicles were set on fire, one of them hit me with sharp axe in my head, I fell and another said:’waste that man’. Then he shot me in my two legs close to my waist and used the axe on my shoulder.”

Meanwhile, his condition is said to be getting serious even after 13 bullets were extracted from his thighs.

The father of four who is currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Ebonyi (the second hospital since after the attack), has been referred to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu for higher medical attention.

He was said to have lost so much blood and needed further medical examinations to ascertain the level of the impact the axe cut in his head had on the brain.

” I have successfully extracted 13 bullets pumped into his legs at a close range, and I have also set the bones shattered by bullets. He is stable but has been having hiccups for some days now.

” I have tried to control it but it has persisted. I want him to go to UNTH Enugu for further attention”, said the physician attending to him who did not want his name on print.

Meanwhile, the family of the victim has solicited urgent Government intervention to save the situation.

In an interview, the victim’s immediate-younger brother and the Abia State Correspondent of the Vanguard Newspapers, Mr Steve Oko, said the family had been traumatised by the “better-imagined” incident.

He, however, thanked God for not allowing his brother to die at the spot, while appealing to Government to assist the family in the battle to save the life of the victim.

” We thank God that the hoodlums did not succeed in ‘wasting him’ on the spot as they had intended. We also thank security agencies for rescuing and rushing him to the hospital.

” But his condition is very serious now. This is the second place we have taken him for treatment since then, and he has been referred to UNTH Enugu. Enormous resources have been involved and we need Government intervention to save his life first.

” We are not talking of his vehicle that was set ablaze. What matters to us now is how to save his life first. He had life-threatening wounds all over his body. We also want Government to fish out the hoodlums behind this senseless and barbaric attack”, Steve and.

The Divisional Crime Officer in charge of Ikwo Police Divisional headquarters, Mr Kingsley Okorie, who confirmed the incident had said that when police got information about the attack at the market, they stormed the scene, and on sighting the security agencies, the hoodlums fled.

” We gave them a hot pursuit but they escaped on a motorcycle through narrow paths to the bush”, he said.

He confirmed that one of the victims, Henry, had been taken to the hospital where efforts were on to extract the bullets lodged in his thighs.

The Indigenous People of Biafran, IPOB, has since disowned Ekpa over his ideology in the Biafra struggles, saying the incessant sit-at-home orders he is issuing are “anti-people and anti-Biafra”.

IPOB accused Ekpa of working for the enemies to possibly truncate the Biafra agenda and complicate issues for its detained Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu has also renounced Ekpa, saying he (Kanu) did not authorize anybody to issue any sit-at-home order on his behalf.

The IPOB Leader who spoke through his lawyers when they visited him strongly condemned the senseless killings in the South East perpetuated by hoodlums allegedly enforcing sit-at-home orders in the zone.

Reacting, the Chairman of Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Barr. Sunday Nwankwo who praised the security agencies for their prompt intervention added that the location of the incident has been condoning off.

According to him, the situation was now under control as no life was lost following the ugly episode.

He further debunked the claim in some quarters that the location of the incident was gutted by fire.

“There’s a manhunt for the perpetrators and very soon they will be arrested. “

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