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Residents of Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, are counting their losses following the fracas with the police, which led to the burning of scores of buildings.
This comes even as Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu has sued for peace among residents of Ndiegoro community in Aba where the houses were burnt. The governor said he had waded into the matter.
Some houses located within Okojombo, Anaba, Degema and Umuosi Streets all in Ndiegoro community, Aba were torched on Tuesday by people alleged by eyewitnesses to be policemen.
However, the Police denied the allegation saying the houses were burnt by rival cultists operating in the area.
A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Onyebuchi Ememanka yesterday assured the affected community that investigations had commenced to ascertain why the houses were burnt and who burnt them.
Emenanja said Governor Ikpeazu had reported the incident to the Inspector General of Police and that the Abia State Commissioner of Police had already gone to Abuja to brief the police high command on the issue.
Ikpeazu advised residents of Aba to remain calm and go about their businesses without any fear, but allow government work with security agencies to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the incident.
Ikpeazu also disclosed that plot by some criminals to upset the peace in Aba had been uncovered and that security had been beefed up.
Last week Friday, a police patrol team was attacked in by men suspected to be cultists in Aba. During the attack, a policeman and a civilian were shot dead while others were injured. Police also lost four riffles to the attackers.
According to a resident of the area who gave his name as Peter, “this is not the first time the police are coming to raid the place, but on this fateful day, events turned sour as some people we cannot ascertain their identity attacked policemen and not only snatched their guns, but also killed one of them. The boys also made away with police rifles.”
According to Peter, policemen came again on Tuesday, in what was a revenge attack, made some arrests and torched some houses. He estimated losses incurred by the residents to run into millions of naira.
The State Commissioner of Police, Eneh Okon, In his reaction, denied knowledge of the incident. He however disclosed that the police had recovered two out of the three rifles that were snatched from his men.
He said if there was anything like burning of houses, it could have been done by rival cult groups in the area.
Source: Okey Sampson, Aba
