Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
There is heightened alert and increased police presence in Owerri, the Imo State Capital, following a bloody attack by some gunmen trying to enforce the five-day sit-at-home order called by a faction of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by one Simon Ekpa.
A source resident in Owerri told TPCN on Saturday morning that security has been beefed up in the Eastern Heartland city to forestall further attacks by gunmen in their bid to enforce the controversial sit-at-home order.
The source revealed that despite the attack by gunmen, residents of Owerri are moving about freely, adding that the presence of security officers at strategic junctions has boosted the confidence of the residents.
“We heard about the shooting yesterday at Ubommiri by gunmen. They shot at some people because they wanted people to stay at home but nobody obeyed them. So they shot at some people that they met on the road. They even killed Aki’s elder brother in the process.
“Today, there are policemen at many of the junctions here (Owerri), because the gunmen also shot a policeman that yesterday but I don’t know whether he died. But nothing is happening today. People are going out as usual and there’s movement,” the source said.
It was learnt that during the attack, which happened on Friday at Ubomiri Community in Mbaitolu LGA of the state, the gunmen shot and killed Prince Iheme, elder brother to Nollywood actor, Osita Iheme, popularly called ‘Aki’ – a character he played in one of the Nollywood movies, alongside another character, Pawpaw.
According to reports, Prince Iheme was riding with the Imo State Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Martins Eke, when the gunmen ran into them and opened fire. He couldn’t survive the bullet wounds. It was also gathered that the commissioner received a deep machete cut from the gunmen.
But the dare-devil gunmen did not end there. They also struck at the Orji axis, near Owerri, where they ran into a police checkpoint and, again, opened fire, killing one policeman while ordering motorists and passers-by to go home and observe sit-at-home.
After wreaking havoc, the killers were said to have headed towards Okigwe Junction axis of Owerri. But how they ended up is what TPCN is yet to gather.
Simon Ekpa, a factional leader of IPOB, had, in a video that went viral on social media within this week, declared a five-day sit-at-home to commence from Friday, 9 to Wednesday 10 December 2022, in the entire South-East which he tagged ‘Biafra Land.’
However, the Director of Media and Publicity of the Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB, Emma Powerful, countered Ekpa’s sit-at-home order.
It was not possible to hear from either the police public relations officer (PPRO) of the Imo State Police Command or the late Prince Iheme family at the time of sending this report. However, efforts to reach them remain ongoing.
