By Sam Esiaba Jnr
Residents of Ndiegoro community in Aba, Abia State have alleged that policemen set their buildings and homes ablaze by pouring petrol on them and igniting it with gunshots.
They told the State Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality and Extra-judicial killings which was on a fact finding tour to Oko Jumbo, Degema and Ntueke streets, that policemen had on October 1, 2019, stormed the area, shot sporadically and set some buildings on fire in retaliation to the killing of one of their colleagues by unknown gunmen.
One of the petitioners, Pastor Harrison Uchechukwu narrated how policemen brought cans of petrol and mattresses, threw them into the building which caught fire as the police shot into the rooms.
His words: “The policemen brought mattresses and fifty litres of petrol, asked one of them to sprinkle the petrol on the mattress and threw it into each of the buildings. The buildings caught fire as the police started firing guns into them. This was after the police had arrested some people and looted their properties. This happened between 1am and 2am.”
A resident of Degema street, Wilfred Ukpai, said that policemen were at the junction between Degema and Oko Jumbo and allegedly collecting money from motorists when unknown men attacked and killed one of them. Another resident identified simply as Uche lamented that life has been difficult for him and family since the police allegedly burnt the building where he had his home and shop.
Chairman of the Panel, Justice Sunday Imo, rtd. who assured the residents of justice, said they came to the area to see things for themselves.
Justice Imo, accompanied by Bishop Sunday Onuoha and other members of the Panel admitted that the fact-finding visit corroborated what they were told during one of their sittings on the incident, stressing justice would be done when the Panel completes its assignment and submits her recommendations to the government.
“There is nothing the Panel could do at this stage except to say we have taken evidence of the burnt buildings and what we saw had gone a long way to show what we were told during one of our sittings about the incident was true,” the Panel Chairman stated.
Earlier, the Panel visited Ndiegoro police station where the Divisional Police Officer, Ibrahim Achem, told members how the station was attacked by some hoodlums during the #ENDSARS protests.
He disclosed that his men who went to work at the Oko Jombo, Ntueke and Degema area of Ndiegoro in 2019 were attacked by suspected gunmen, killing one policeman and made away with his rifle.
He urged the state and federal governments to come to the aid of the station by renovating some of its buildings which he said were built in the 1960s and assured that police in the area would always do their work diligently.
ENDS
