By Ifeizu Joe
Unidentified men riding on motorbikes and wielding AK-47 assault rifles on Saturday invaded Ebenebe community in Awka North Local Government Area forcing indigenes to close their shops in observance of the Biafra Day celebration.
Secessionist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had declared May 30 every year as Biafra Day, to mourn those killed during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war close to 60 years ago.
An eyewitness from the community said The men who were just five in number entered the community on motorcycles at around 10am, carrying rifles, and urging shops in the community to close in reverence of those killed.
The source said their entry caused a huge stir in the community, with shop owners hurriedly closing for the day.
He said: “At first, the men were not violent, they just urged people to close, telling them they can open again by 4pm. But because of panic, people were running helter skelter.
“They later went away on their bike, but later we started hearing heavy shooting and everyone started running. We learnt that they were confronted by operatives of Agunechemba Security Outfit, resulting in a heavy gun battle.
“Throughout today, it has been gunshots all through. It ceased at a point because we learnt that the Agunechemba operatives overpowered them, but later this evening, we learnt the gunmen mobilized themselves again and returned to confront the security men.
“They have been shooting since this evening until an hour ago. Everyone is afraid and people have retreated into their houses for fear of being hit by bullets. Everywhere is deserted as I speak to you and we do not know what will happen this night,” the terrified source stated.
It was however not clear if any casualties were registered in the incident, while the true identity of the man was not also immediately ascertained.
Attempts to reach Comrade Nweke Nweke, the spokesperson of Agunechemba Security Outfit was not successful as his both phone lines were not reachable.
Police authorities in the state were also yet to speak on the incident as at the time of filing this report.
