Henry Emeana
Pandemonium broke out in Owerri, capital of Imo State, Tuesday when gunmen attempted to burn down the Orji Divisional Police Headquarters located at Orji Owerri-Okigwe Road.
There was palpable tension in the area as people ran helter and skelter with sporadic shootings heard in different directions.
However, reports claim that stray bullets reportedly killed two at Orji flyover, while pedestrians and motorists dumped their cars and ran into a hotel nearby to take cover; road side food vendors and artisans also dumped their items on the road to take cover.
A combined team of security officers later engaged the hoodlums numbering about 20 in fierce battle to salvage the Orji police station under reconstruction.
Reacting on the development ,Imo State Police Command’s spokesman, Bala Elkana said the police and other security operatives were able to repel the gunmen and prevented them from destroying the police station.
His words: “some hoodlums in their number launched an offensive on the reconstruction site of Orji Divisional Headquarters which was earlier burnt by hoodlums during the #EndSARS protest in 2020.
He said the hoodlums, who believed that the re-establishment of a functional police station might prevent them from carrying out their nefarious acts in Orji and environs, decided to invade the construction site”, he stated.
Elkana stated that before the arrival of reinforcement team, the hoodlums melted into the neighbouring townships area but abandoned their operational vehicles, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Imo State, CP Abutu Yaro, fdc personally led an enforcement team to the scene
He said the whole area was cordoned off and that five suspects were arrested, adding that no life was lost, while three vehicles were recovered.
Recall that the same police Divisional headquarters was in 2020 burnt during the nationwide #ENDSARS protest
