…Another man killed at Okolochi, next day
…Youths, vigilante, hunters comb bushes in Eziobodo,Emeabiam areas.
Tension is said to has gripped Ihiagwa community in Owerri West LGA of Imo State following the alleged murder of a Vigilante member on Friday, April 23, by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
The ugly event had sparked reprisal attack on Hausa traders and motorcycle riders in the area.
At about 5:30 p.m,same day, pandemonium broke out at the popular Nkwo-Ukwu Ihiagwa (Market) as a group of youths from Nkaramochie village, Ihiagwa, invaded the market and other Hausa-owned business locations. The youths reportedly beat up and injured several Hausa men, including commercial Hausa motorcyclists, reportedly in retaliation for the killing of their kinsman.
The victim was identified as Mr. Emmanuel, an indigene of Anoruo Compound, Nkaramochie, Ihiagwa. He worked with the community vigilante security group and also operated as an Okada business man (a commercial motorcycle) to support his wife and four children. His youngest child, still an infant, had yet to be dedicated.
According to his fellow Motorcycle Riders at the Ihiagwa motor park, Emmanuel had picked up two passengers earlier that day, a pregnant woman and an elderly woman; both traveling to Amaeze. ,Then, less than an hour after he departed the Park, Emmanuel was reported to had been stopped along the village route, just past one popular School near ISADAP, by a group of strange-looking men.
The men reportedly dragged Emmanuel and his passengers into the bush. They conversed among themselves in Hausa, a language Emmanuel understood and spoke. After interacting with them, the men agreed to release him and the elderly woman unharmed but decided to hold the pregnant woman pending further action.
Emmanuel was said to had hesitated to leave without the pregnant woman. Shortly after he began walking away, he reportedly brought out his mobile phone, either to answer or make a call. The suspected herdsmen, upon seeing this, allegedly believed he was contacting security operatives. They chased him, and as he fled, he fell. The assailants then attacked and butchered him until he died.
News of his death reached his family and the community. Security personnel, alongside family members, later recovered his corpse and deposited it in a Mortuary. On seeing his mutilated body, angered Nkaramochie youths launched reprisal attacks on Hausa residents in the community.
Sources also disclosed that the suspected herdsmen demanded a ransom of ₦1,000,000 for the release of the said pregnant woman. The sum was reportedly paid in cash by her family over the weekend, after which she was released.
It was also gathered that another unidentified man was reportedly murdered at nearby Okolochi village by same Fulani herders,a day after; compelling the youths,hunters in Emeabiam, Eziobodo villages to storm the surrounding bushes to see how to catch the said Fulani herders.
