…Calls For Government Intervention
The Paramount Ruler of Oyigbo in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State, Eze Mike Nwaji has decried what he called the excesses of the soldiers posted to the area to maintain peace since after the #EndSARS protest that rocked the place.
Speaking with newsmen in his palace over the weekend, he disclosed that apart from the innocent persons that lost their lives in the crossfire between the criminals and the security operatives, soldiers now conduct house to house search for supposed members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in company of perceived enemies, and that whether the victim belongs to the group or not, as long as he has been fingered, the soldiers would arrest and taken to their barracks for possible torture to death.
The “Eze Oha Oyigbo” said the situation is so tensed that most persons have deserted the area for fear of the security operatives which has made nonsense of the curfew reviewed by the state governor.
“The social and economic activities of Oyigbo has been badly affected as one’s enemy can cash into the situation and call the soldiers, implicating his/her enemy as an IPOB member for possible arrest,” he said.
He said people now move around in fear of the unknown while those who relocated to the hinterland for safety during the crisis with their families have refused to come back with the development.
He also stated that the indiscriminate shooting by the soldiers is not healthy among the law abiding citizens in the residential area as flying bullets could increase the number of casualties. Eze Nwaji equally complained that the soldiers subject innocent citizens to all sorts of punishment, including raising of hands, frog jumping and rolling on the mud.
The monarch used the opportunity to appeal to Governor Nyesom Wike to intervene in the situation and not only caution the soldiers but ensure the unconditional release of those in their custody in the barrack, adding that he was sure those criminals who perpetuated the mayhem had disappeared from the area.
