The heads of security agencies in Enugu State paid a visit to Mgbuji Eha-Amufu, an Enugu community besieged by Fulani herdsmen, on Friday, just days after an exclusive report.
It was reported that on Monday and Tuesday, Fulani herdsmen killed five residents and set fire to hundreds of homes, sacking 14 farm settlements and displacing over 3000 people.
It was also reported that when residents were attacked, the police and military did not respond, instead arriving to carry corpses and extort money from bereaved families before they could bury their loved ones.
Following the report, the state commissioner of police, CP Abubakar Lawal, along with the state director, Department of State Services (DSS), H. M. Daluwa; the commander, 82 Division Garrison Command of the Nigerian Army Enugu, Brig. Gen. M. K. Ibrahim; and the commander, 553 Services Base Group of the Nigerian Air Force Enugu, Air Commodore I. A. Taiwo, and other senior police officers, visited the troubled community on
The visit was to ascertain and assess the security situation in the area, “alleged to have been caused by farmers and herders’ crises within farm settlements of the community, bordering Enugu and Benue states,” according to a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe.
He said Abubakar, the Police Commissioner, had used the visit to address and interact with members of the community at Obibi-Mgbuji Village Square, assuring them of the police and other security agencies’ commitment to effectively combat violent attacks in the area.
According to Ndukwe, the Commissioner urged community members to be vigilant, law-abiding, and to promptly volunteer useful information that would aid Security Operatives in containing the assailants’ activities.
“The CP and his entourage were received and guided by the Area Commander, Udenu Area Command, ACP Edwin Egwuekwe, and a team of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area leadership, led by Vice Chairman, Mr. Ogechukwu Nnamani,” the statement reads in part.
“It will be recalled that on 13/06/2022, the yet-to-be identified assailants attacked and murdered three (3) male victims, at Ogbete-Mgbuji area of the community, who were confirmed dead by doctors and deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy,” the statement says.
Meanwhile, community members claim that Nwachukwu, the Ikem Divisional Police Officer, used a backdoor channel to extort the bereaved families on Friday.
“After the report,” a community leader named Clement Odo said, “the DPO Nwachukwu called the bereaved families and said he took the corpses of their relatives to go and pay N70,000 for mortuary and N40,000 for autopsy.”
Odo, on the other hand, wondered if there was any hospital in Nigeria that would charge N40,000 for an autopsy on a dead body.
