…invade radio station, abduct Prof Adiele
Ekwe community in Isu Local Government Area of Imo State was gripped by fear on Saturday as gunmen whisked away 15 youths at Njaba Bridge – to an unknown location.
A source who disclosed the incident Sunday Sun said the gunmen stormed the community through the Njaba River, a boundary between Ekwe community and Amucha in Njaba LGA.
According to the source, the youths were said to be excavating sand at the Njaba River when the gunmen swooped on them and took them away after shooting sporadically in the air and searching for other youths in the vicinity.
“This morning, some masked gunmen invaded our community, Ekwe, through Amucha, arrested some young men who were excavating sand at Njaba River.
“After that, they went into the community shooting sporadically leading to people running helter-skelter.
“Some ran into the surrounding bushes to escape arrest. The gunmen were arresting only male young men. They ignored girls and women as well as elderly men.
“Later, they stormed the palace of our traditional ruler, Eze Nicholas Ibekwe, commanded all to lie down and fired about 20 gunshots into the air. They didn’t kill anybody but we are hearing that some might have sustained gunshot injuries,” the source said.
The traditional ruler of the community, Eze Nicholas Ibekwe, confirmed the incident. He disclosed that four of the gunmen stormed his palace and ordered everybody in his palace to lie face down.
The monarch narrated that before storming his palace, he had already got wind that gunmen were in custody of 15 of his subjects who were excavating sand at Njaba River.
Ibekwe disclosed that one of the youths alerted the community after his release. He said he was released because of his visual impairment.
The traditional ruler revealed that four of the gunmen did not cover their face but wore camouflage.
Eze Ibekwe further explained that one of the gunmen spoke Hausa language when he ordered those in his palace to lie down. He said one of the gunmen even accused him of harbouring criminals in the community.
When contacted, the police spokesperson for the command, Michael Abattam, advised the community to lodge a formal report to the police division in the area.
In a related development, some heavily armed gunmen were said to have invaded the Boss FM radio station in Owerri at about 11:30 am on the same day, and abducted Prof Jachimike Adiele, a co-host of the Forum, a public affairs programme.
A source at the radio station said the victim soon after he finished discussing the topic “Igbo Presidency,” was immediately taken away to an unknown destination by the gunmen who lay siege on the station.
However, Abbattam said that Prof Adiele was actually not abducted but was arrested.
He said Adiele was arrested by the police for an offence which they did not specify.
Co-host of the programme, Miss Ijeoma Harriet, who posted the incident on her Facebook page, recalled that: “Some unidentified armed men stormed the premises of Boss Radio, Owerri and abducted the co-host (guest) of the forum, Prof Jachimike Adiele to an undisclosed location.
“We cannot confirm his whereabouts, or his present state. We implore the law enforcement agencies to please come to our rescue.”
Although the victim was later released, a few hours after, the reason for his abduction could not be established. – The Sun.
