The conflict between the people of Ezillo and Ezza communities in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State claimed more casualties yesterday. No fewer than 10 persons including a police officer were feared killed and several others wounded following a renewed clash between the two communities.
THISDAY learnt that the people lost their lives when two buses belonging to a well known transport company in the country (name withheld) in which they were travelling were attacked at Ezillo.
They were said to have run into the exchange of fire between the militants operating in the area and the police.
But the police denied that any of their officers was caught down in the gun-duel, claiming only one person was killed and many others sustained bullet wounds.
According to an eyewitness, “Many of the occupants of the two vehicles as well as other cars that were coming behind were caught in the crossfire. So many people were killed instantly while several others sustained bullet wounds.”
Most of the people who sustained injuries had been taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Abakaliki, where they are receiving treatment, he said.
A corpse was said to have been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary.
Only last week, four prominent people from Cross River State passing through the expressway that cuts through the warring communities lost their lives to the crisis as they were burnt to death.
The four persons including a Director with the Federal Civil Service were on their way to Ogoja through the Enugu-Abakaliki highway that cuts through the warring community. The SVU with registration No. LN 304 AAA in which they were travelling was also burnt down.
Following the increasing rate of killings, transporters now avoid the road, resulting in the hike in transport fares.
Reacting to the development, Ebonyin State House of Assembly Speaker Augustine Nwankwaegu told THISDAY that the time had come for the security agencies namely the police, military and other para-military agencies to rise to the occasion and find ways of ending the crisis.
“We are no longer happy with the dimension this lingering communal feud has assumed and I don’t think it has gone beyond the security operatives. Something must have to be done and urgently too. Even though, the number of deaths on the road appears to be over-exaggerated, our concern is that the rate at which lives are wasted on that road is alarming,” he said.
He disclosed that a delegation from the state government had paid a condolence visit to its Cross River State counterpart over the killing of the Director of the Federal Civil Service who incidentally hailed from Cross River along the road last week.
He noted that the visit showed that Ebonyi was working tirelessly to end the crisis.
When contacted, the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council of FMC, Abakaliki, Dr. Azubuike Onyebuchi, said only one corpse was brought to the hospital, while five others were brought with bullet wounds.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Chris Anyanwu, could not be reached for his reaction.
A senior police officer who spoke on grounds of anonymity, however, told THISDAY that the police in the state were working round the clock to end the crisis.
He specifically accused the media of over-exaggerating the death toll.