Imo State: Agwa Community In Grief As Suspected Herdsmen Slaughter Pa Ozoemena
In the early hours of Saturday, June 13, 2020 an old man was reportedly shot & slaughtered by herdsmen in Umuekpu village, Agwa, Oguta LGA of Imo State. The 65 year old man who could not run very fast like others for safety was the only victim of the attack.
According to the information obtained by The Nigerian Voice, the suspected herdsmen headed straight to the community causing havoc in their farmlands close to the border between Agwa Community & Ejemekwuru both in Oguta LGA, and when confronted to leave their farmlands, the herdsmen pretended to be leaving and after a while, opened fire on the villagers who took to their heels leaving the old man who couldn't meet up running away from the scene. Afterwards, when the villagers returned to the spot, they found the man lying lifeless not only as a result of the bullets but noticed additional knife-cuts on his neck region suggesting that the herdsmen returned where he was grounded to make sure he is dead by slaughtering him.
The Herdsmen, The Nigerian Voice learnt, attacked Umuekpu village in Agwa clan and left this aged man identified as Mr. Ozoemena Iriaka who hails from Umuekpu in a pool of his own blood with severe matchet cuts around his neck region. The ugly incident by the herdsmen threw Agwa community and her residents into a state of pandemonium as some ran to Ejemekwuru & Akabor, neighbouring villages to take shield as they wondered why herdsmen could open fire at them posing a threat as to displace landlords from their ancestral homes.
Alerted about this ugly story, the House member representing Oguta Constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Frank Ugboma as we gathered arrived at the scene of the incident together with the DPO of Oguta Police Station and representives of the Department of State Security Services, DSS for first hand information delved into calming the nerves and youths of the community warning against reprisal attacks while promising that justice must be served as the perpetrators of the despicable act must not escape the full weight of the law.
The Lawmaker, who made a passionate appeal to the lmo state governor His Excellency, Distinguished Sen. Hope Uzodinma, to urgently raise the bar for the security architecture and surveillance across all the LGAs to guard against ugly cases of Herdsmen activities in the state before it escalates, used the opportunity to console the family of the deceased and assured them of government's intervention on the matter.