Life is gradually returning to the troubled Nimbo Community in Uzo Uwani Local Government, following the attack on the people by Fulani herdsmen, leading to the death of over 40 people, including a member of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and a teacher, penultimate Monday. Arase meets Nimbo Monarch A visit to Nimbo Sunday, showed that although armed soldiers and policemen were patrolling the area, only few members of the agrarian community had returned home. The Traditional Ruler of Nimbo and former journalist, Igwe John Akor who spoke at Nimbo said that many of his kinsmen and women who fled to neighbouring villages and Nsukka Township were yet to come home for fear of being attacked again. Akor said that the few that returned did so because of the presence of armed security men. He said that the people who were mainly subsistent farmers were afraid that the Fulani would still come back to attack them, hence they were coming home in trickles. At the time of the visit, the popular Eke Nimbo Market was deserted as there were no buyers and sellers of any food items or goods. Akor however, hinted that officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, as well as the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, would visit Nimbo last Monday to distribute relief materials to them. The senator representing the area in the National Assembly, Chukwuka Utazi, also told South East Voice that he had been around persuading those who fled their homes to return because they should not run away from their houses for anybody to occupy them by force. Utazi, who spoke on the telephone appealed to security agencies to ensure that the crises did not escalate and commended the state government for taking prompt action to protect the lives and property of the people of the area. However, investigations by South East Voice, showed that part of the reason why most people in Nimbo and environs were not ready to return home was due to what they described as “betrayal by armed soldiers and policemen,” who withdrew from their duty posts in Nimbo and Abbi, few seconds before the Fulani herdsmen who were armed with sophisticated weapons began to unleash mayhem on the hapless people. The IGP, Arase coming out of Igwe John Akor of Nimbo’s palace, after Arase’s fact- finding tour of Nimbo following Fulani herdsmen attack on Nimbo, killing over 40 people. Spokesperson for the community, Dr George Ajogwu, had told the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase when he visited Nimbo on a fact finding mission few days after the attack, that apart from the sudden withdrawal of security agents, the Fulani attackers were led by a police corporal serving at the Adani Police Station in the local government. This was even as the state Commissioner of Police, Ekechukwu Nwodibo, had said during a live television programme in the heat of the crises that Nimbo was attacked by hoodlums, and not Fulani herdsmen as erroneously believed by the people. However, Ajogwu said, “What happened was that immediately the policemen posted to the community left; because we pleaded with them to stay till those who would change them arrived but they did not listen to us. The Fulani began to shoot our people soon after the policemen left. “Immediately they moved out that morning, the Fulani herdsmen struck. If the policemen had listened to us, the incident would have been nipped in the bud. It was only the Area Commander’s men from Nsukka that responded frontally when they arrived. “The situation is unbelievable. We cannot say exactly the number of people that died but the death toll is above 20,” Ajogwu said. As if to corroborate Ajogwu’s observations, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State stated two days after Arase’s visit to Nimbo, that armed soldiers and policemen deployed to Nimbo and the nearby Abbi Communities to stop the Fulani attack abandoned their duty posts. Ugwanyi’s statement signed on April 29, 2016 read in part, “My dear people of Enugu State, four days ago on Monday April 25, 2016, many of our brothers and sisters in Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of the state were murdered in cold blood by suspected Fulani herdsmen who have been grazing their cattle in that area for a while now… “On Sunday, April 24, 2016, by 7 pm, the night before the carnage took place, I got security information from Uzo-Uwani Local Government Transition Chairman, Hon. Cornell Onwubuya that such an incident was likely to take place in the state. I immediately summoned a meeting of the State Security Council which commenced by 10 pm. “The meeting was attended by the following, the Garrison Commander, Brigadier General Olufemi Akinjobi who normally represents the General Officer Commanding, GOC, 82 Division Nigerian Army, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu, the State Director of Department State Services, DSS, Mr. M. Abdul-Malik and the state Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Lar Stephen.” According to him, those who also, attended the State Security Council meeting as observers included, the “representatives of the Nigerian Air Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps and Nigerian Prison Services. “From the side of government were, myself, the governor, the Deputy Governor, the Secretary to the State Government, the Chief of Staff, the Chairman, state Traditional Rulers Council and the Attorney General. “In the meeting, we received assurances from the Commissioner of Police that the Area Commander of SARS was on ground in Nimbo; that the Anti-Terrorism Unit was at Nimbo; that he was in contact with the Kogi State Commissioner of Police and reported suspected herdsmen grouping at Odolu in Kogi State preparatory for an attack on Nimbo and Abbi communities; that Police mobile force and conventional police were already drafted to Nimbo and Abbi communities and that he was in touch with the Area Commander, ldah, ACP lkegwuonwu and had linked him with the Area Commander, Nsukka, ACP Monday Kuryasi. “Both men according to the CP reported that there were no traces of suspected herdsmen in Nsukka or Idah and that he ordered the Area Commander, Nsukka to redeploy to Nimbo. “The Garrison Commander on his part assured the meeting that Military was already deployed to Nimbo. Let me state that the state government provided logistics for these deployments. “After receiving these assurances of deployments to Nimbo, I felt quite confident that we had done everything possible to forestall an attack on Nimbo… Sadly, in the early hours of Monday reports of this carnage reached me. More disturbing was the report that the attack of innocent and defenceless citizens were carried out at about 6 30 am. Further reports available to me indicate that apart from the killing and maiming of innocent and defenceless citizens of Nimbo a church was also burnt. Following this development, I engaged the security agencies in order to ensure that the Nimbo area was secured from further attacks that might escalate the situation… What happened between 6.30am and 7.30 am on Monday 25th April, 2016 despite assurances from the security agencies? Only the security agencies can answer this question. “On Tuesday, April 26, 2016, I visited Nimbo in order to establish first-hand the extent of carnage. My visit to Nimbo was revealing. I came face to face with the wounded and bereaved. I saw burnt and damaged personage of Christ Holy Church. I saw a traumatized community in shock and despair. I saw a dead body. I wept. I wondered what has become of our quest for a united, peaceful and prosperous nation… “Only two weeks ago we gave a posthumous award to Alhaji Umaru Altine, a Katsina born Muslim who was elected mayor of Enugu before the civil war; in the period that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was leader of the NCNC. Now in less than three months, violent clashes have occurred in Enugu State in Awgu, Nike, Abbi and Nimbo between suspected Fulani Herdsmen and our people…”
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/life-nimbo-herdsmen-attack/
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