A six-year-old boy and his father, Echee, a shop owner at Oye Market in Nibo, Anambra State, were among those killed during the Sunday Massacre.
The child was said to be playing near his father’s shop when he was hit by a stray bullet.
Our correspondent who visited the town on Tuesday gathered that some yet-to-be-identified hoodlums, on Sunday afternoon, stormed the Oye Nwochichi Market, Nibo and Eke Nibo Market, near the venue where the community’s New Yam festival known as “Olili Onwa Asaa” was holding and opened fire on the people having fun, killing no fewer than 16 persons.
The Security Director of Nibo Community, simply identified as “Wadara”, disclosed that an only son of his parents, Uchenna, was among the persons gunned down in the bloodshed.
” Uchenna, who was yet to marry, was also one of the community’s vigilante officers. He was on patrol duty, mounting surveillance, given the grand finale of the ‘Olili Onwa Asaa’ cultural festival of the community slated for the day, before the hoodlums struck and gunned him down after an exchange of gunfire.
“A six-year-old was also hit by a bullet during the attack, so also his father, Echee. Several injured persons were immediately rushed to the hospital, and the corpses of many of the murdered victims had been identified and carried by their relatives for burial”, Our correspondent gathered.
The family members of the deceased did not grant audience to our correspondent as they said they were not in the right frame of mind to do so.
Meanwhile, in a viral voice note on social media, one of the survivors of the attack recounted his near-death experience, adding that he was only saved by the Grace of God.
He said, “The person who shot the three people had pointed the gun at me and was about to pull the trigger before one of his members told him that I was not among those they were hunting.
“As he was about to pull that trigger, he then pushed him down, and the bullets splashed on the wall behind me directly…”