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…As indigenes flee homes, sleep in churches
While the focus had largely been on the precarious security situation in Orsu LGA of Imo state, not many have noticed the gathering storm in the small community of Ubulu-Ihejiofor in Oru West LGA, signaling the gradual degeneration to anarchy and wanton blood-letting of barbaric proportion.These nocturnal killings, our reporters learned, have been going on for over a year now but hit a new crescendo with the recent cruel and primitive slaughter of no fewer than nine persons about ten days ago.Beside some of these unexplained killings that have happened in Ubulu-Ihejiofor, there have been regular cases of mulling, kidnapping, raping and brazing robbery, all believed to be masterminded by suspected Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) elements and claimants operating within and around Ubulu-Ihejiofor.
The Yuletide was horribly marred for Ubulu-Ihejiofor people from the 21st of December, 2024 following the attack on the late Christopher Madubuko family. Late Christopher Madubuko had been buried on Friday, the 20th of December and on the Saturday the 21st, while preparations were still being made for the outing service the next day Sunday, the 22nd, these gunmen struck.
Their first victims were the bouncers who were hired from Owerri, the state capital, for the event. One of the bouncers was killed while others escaped by the whiskers. Everyone in the house at the time of the attack fled to safety, and when they could not find the two sons of the deceased who did the burial, the hoodlums burnt down the house.
There have been speculations that the sons of the deceased who funded the burial may have defied the hoodlums and refused to pay them before burying their father, resulting in the attack. Fortunately, the two sons were not at home when the attack happened. Consequently, the outing service that should have held the next day was aborted and abandoned.
The story is also similar to the killings of January 11 in Ubulu. A young man had returned home with his brothers to bury their mum and after the burial, they had been sitting out in their compound drinking ahead of the outing service the next day, when they were attacked and everyone with them, butchered in the most inhuman manner; a gory scene. The killers also attacked and hacked to death other young men they ran into on their way out of the village.
When the dust of the attack settled the next morning, nine young men where down in the pool of their own blood, hacked to death for a crime they do not know about.
Ubulu-Ihejiofor people both at home and overseas are yet to recover from the shock of the wave of vicious killings in the community.
A victim, Jane Ibebuogu (not real name), who was lamenting and sympathizing with the families affected by the new wave of killings wrote: “Hmmm! You will not understand this kind of pain unless you experience it; watching how your loved one is butcherd to death even though they are innocent. Since the day they killed my father, I’ve not been the same again. It’s safe to say Ubulu is no longer my home town because it holds so many sad memories for me and my family. My condolences to the affected families.”
An elderly indigene who craved anonymity had this to say: “Kidnapping for ransom, outright robbery, slaughtering of local vigilanté operatives at random, going from house to house with POS machines and AK-47 rifles wearing masks, sometimes with full military uniforms as from midnight; transferring everything from their victims account to their own bank accounts and POS machines; raping of young girls and old women as old as 80 years and above; forcing their victims to call their loved ones who are abroad or not at home to transfer huge sums of money to them and even going ahead to burn down the houses or properties of those who ran away on noticing their presence or who refused to give them the number of their relatives overseas sometimes around 1:30 to 2:00 am in the morning! This is the latest face terror in Ubulu or Ubulu-Ihejiofor, Oru-West LGA where I come from.”
Consequently, most young people have fled the community. While a few of the young people may come in by day and leave before nightfall, the elderly abandon their homes at night to sleep in different churches in the community.
This report only scratched the surface, as there are many chilling stories emanating from Ubulu, all of which point to the need for speedy intervention.
So while most locals are afraid to voice their plights and the ugly situation of things in Ubulu, it has become expedient that the Imo state government must pay close attention to what is happening in Ubulu and take urgent and decisive actions against the bloodthirsty hoodlums that have besieged the good people of Ubulu-Ihejiofor.
Efforts to get a reaction from the Police authorities in Imo state failed as calls and text messages sent to the command’s spokesperson were neither answered nor responded to.
