Gunmen on Thursday invaded the palace of the traditional ruler of Obor autonomous community in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State, Raphael Ekezie, and set his palace on fire.
The source revealed that the gunmen who stormed the traditional ruler’s house at about 3 pm ransacked his building in a desperate search for the monarch and thereafter torched his building after they could not find him. They also left a message behind for him.
The message from the gunmen, it was learnt, was that the community should get Glory Okolie released in two days from police detention or face their wrath.
Glory is the suspect from the community accused by the police of spying for her boyfriend who the police said was a member of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB)
Explaining why the gunmen attacked the traditional ruler’s palace, the source said: “We don’t really know what happened but from what we heard when they came, they scattered the king’s palace searching for him and when they could not find him, they set his house on fire.”
The source explained that the gunmen may have been enraged by the lackadaisical attitude of the royal father to the continued detention of Okolie and one Izuchukwu Okeke also said to have been arrested for similar offences at Abuja by the police.
“He was not at home when they came, but they were shouting ‘that poor girl is innocent, release her or face the consequences.’”
Our correspondent gathered that the threat issued by the gunmen had caused panic in the agrarian community, prompting most of the indigenes to desert the place.
Okolie, 21, was in police detention for several weeks without the knowledge of her parents until her matter was eventually transferred to the force headquarters in Abuja. She was accused of spying for IPOB
