10082021

10 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2021
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
• A deserted street in Onitsha, Anambra State, following the IPOB's sitat-home
order.
6 people feared dead, as IPOB's sit-at-home
order records total compliance
• 4 dead in shootings in Orlu, Mbaise; 2 buses, house burnt •2 shot dead in soldiers clash with
civilians in Nnewi •Total compliance in Enugu, Onitsha, Nnewi •Order paralyzes commercial, academic
activities •Ebonyi records partial compliance as stray bullet hits a church member •Aba completely
shut down, partial compliance in Umuahia •Sit-at-home ended before noon in Awka •Owerri locked
down •Sit-at-home recorded 100% success —IPOB
By Vincent Ujumadu, Chidi Nkwopara,
Peter Okutu, Chimaobi Nwaiwu,
Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinedu Adonu,
Chinonso Alozie, Ikechukwu Odu & Steve
Okoh
SIX PEOPLE were yester
day feared dead in Aboh
Mbaise, Imo State, and
Nnewi, Anambra State, as
security agents clashed with
enforcers of the sit-at-home
order at the instance of the
Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB.
Generally, the sit-at-home
order recorded total compliance
across states in the South
East and where resistance was
suspected, IPOB enforcers
moved around to ensure compliance.
IPOB, through its Director
of Media and Publicity,
Emma Powerful, had said that
human and vehicular movements
would be restricted
across Biafran land every
Monday, starting from yesterday,
August 9, 2021, until Mazi
Nnamdi Kanu is released unconditionally
from detention.
Imo: 4 feared
dead, house
burnt, shootings
in Orlu, Mbaise
Four persons were said to
have been killed by the unknown
gunmen in Aboh-
Mbaise as IPOB enforcers
combed communities to enfocre
the sit-at-home order .
There was shooting in Orlu
Local Government Area of
Imo State by unknown gunmen
from Banana junction up
to Nkwito junction yesterday.
The incident occurred at
about 01:30 pm which forced
residents to take cover in their
various houses as motorists
completely avoided Orlu
main town.
Vanguard gathered that the
problem started when the unknown
gunmen were moving
to some places within and
outside the Orlu Local Government
Area of the state to
enforce the sit-at-home order.
The armed men were also
said to have set ablaze a
house in Isiala-Amadim village
at Amaifeke in Orlu Local
Government Area of the
state.
The gunmen moved to
Mbaise axis where they set
ablaze two commercial buses
at Ngwogwu in Aboh
Mbaise Local Government
Area of Imo State at about
08:30am.
It was gathered that one of
the buses was heading to
Umuahia and the other one
to Owerri when they were attacked.
The two buses were completely
burnt, while some other
buses were asked to return
to Owerri.
An eyewitness told Vanguard:
"Two persons inside
one of the buses were burnt to
death and a passenger was
shot dead. A driver of one of
the buses was killed.
''This incident happened this
morning and as I am talking
to you now, there is no movement,
not even a bus. People
are in their houses now.
"We are living in fear now.
These unknown gunmen are
giving us trouble. Is this how
we will get this thing that we
are looking for?"
When Vanguard contacted
Imo State Police Public Relations
Officer, PPRO, Mike
Abatam, he said the Police had
commenced investigations
into reports of violence and
burning of buses.
Owerri locked
down
Owerri, Imo State capital,
was yesterday, shutdown
completely in full compliance
with the sit-at-home order issued
by the leadership of the
Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB.
When Vanguard moved
around the commercial centres
in the municipality, including
Douglas Road, Tetlow
Road, Royce Road, School
Road, Old Market Road,
Mbaise Road, Christ Church
Road, Njemanze Street and
Ekeonunwa Street, it was discovered
that all the shop owners
did not display their wares.
The story was the same in
the ever busy Rotobi Street
which houses all the national
newspapers.
A newspaper sales representative,
who spoke on strict
grounds of anonymity, told
Vanguard: "While the newspaper
offices were open for
business, some of the papers
were yet to arrive Owerri, as
at 1.28pm.
''Only about six vendors
braved it to Rotobi Street to
collect the day's paper. In my
view, the sit-at-home order
was effectively observed in
Owerri."
Reacting also, the owner of
a busy pharmacy along Wetheral
Road (name withheld),
said: "I am not an IPOB loyalist
but there is no point taking
a costly chance. Not opening
for business today (yesterday),
will not diminish what I
have strived to build over the
years. I have chosen to play
safe."
Similarly, all the big names
in the transport sector of the
economy did not load their
vehicles for any trip within or
outside Imo State.
All the recognized and illegal
motor parks in Owerri,
were similarly shut, as Vanguard
did not sight any commuter
vehicle in them.
A visit to the Federal and
State Secretariat Complexes,
along Port Harcourt Road,
Owerri, showed that only a
handful of civil servants were
seen at their desks.
2 shot dead in
soldiers clash
with civilians in
Nnewi
In Nnewi, the industrial city
of Anambra State, all the markets,
street shops, business
houses, industries and banks
were all closed for business as
residents and traders deserted
the roads following the
bloody clash that erupted at
about 9am in the city.
The sit-at-home got bloody
in Nnewi with two people losing
their lives in a confrontation
between the Army and
suspected members of IPOB.
The two people who died
during the bloody confrontation
that happened at
Izuchukwu junction area of
Nnewi roundabout, according
to an eyewitness, were alleged
to be a leader of IPOB
and a commercial motorcyclist.
Vanguard gathered that the
problem started at about
• Another deserted street in Aba, Umuahia, Abia State, following the
IPOB's sit-at-home order.
7.00am when some IPOB
members allegedly came out
to enforce the order and in the
process, blocked major roads
in the industrial town.
Some unidentified soldiers
were said to have rushed to
the area to clear the items
used to block the roads and in
the process, an altercation ensued
between them and the
IPOB members, making the
soldiers to fire at the motorcyclist
and the IPOB member
after which the soldiers quickly
took off.
However, another source
told Vanguard that the two
people killed were commercial
motorcyclists who came
out for brisk business but were
sighted near the blockade put
on the road and the soldiers
started questioning them why
the road was blocked and following
hot exchange of
words, they were shot by the
soldiers who hurriedly left the
scene.
Meanwhile, the industrial
town was reduced to a ghost
town after the incident as the
people who initially came out
to survey the level of compliance
rushed back home to
save their lives.
Some vehicles were also
smashed by aggrieved persons
over the attack on the civilians
by armed soldiers.
However, in what was speculated
to be a reprisal attack
following the killing of the
two persons by unidentified
soldiers in Nnewi, the Police
Area Command Nnewi yesterday
afternoon, came under
a heavy attack. The attack of
the Police Area Command
caused pandemonium
amongst the residents of the
industrial town.
Vanguard gathered that the
unknown gunmen went to the
Police station in seven vehicles
and started shooting sporadically,
an exercise that lasted
for over one hour.
Another source told Vanguard
that the gunmen overpowered
the Police men and
carted away their arms, adding
that the attacking gunmen
had left before reinforcement
from other security agencies
arrived the Area Command.
There was no information
yet on the number of casualties,
but sources revealed that
with the level of sporadic
shootings there, it would only
take the grace of God not to
have any casualty in the attack.
While some people speculated
that four Policeman
were killed, a security operative
close to the police command
in the area said that
nobody was killed but weapons
were carted away by the
hoodlums.
The Anambra State Police
Public Relations Officer,
PPRO, Mr Tochukwu Ikenga,
when contacted at press
time yesterday, said his office
had not received the report
on the attack.
Total compliance
in Onitsha
Business activities, schools,
markets and street shops in
Onitsha and Nnewi were under
lock and key, while the
ever busy roads were deserted
by residents.
The ever busy and gridlock
prone Niger Bridge was a
ghost of itself. Both Onitsha
and Asaba, the Delta State
capital ends were completely
deserted just as the two pedestrian
crossing of both sides of
the bridge were completely
deserted.
The ever busy Onitsha/
Enugu expressway from Niger
Bridge Head area of Onitsha
to Upper Iweka through
Army Barracks to Zik's roundabout,
to Nkpor and old Ogbunike
tollgate, were completely
deserted by residents
as no private cars, commercial
buses and tricycles were
sighted along the areas.
All the markets in Onitsha
including the popular and
and highly populated Onitsha
Main Market, Ochanja Central
Market, Bridge Head
Medicine Market, popularly
known as Ogbo Ogwu and the
Bridge Head Market housing
over 28 autonomous markets
were all shut for business. Popular
Onitsha food market, Ose
Okwodu and Coca-Cola market
located along Onitsha
Enugu expressway and Relief
Market Okpoko were all shut
from business activities.
The popular Provision
Market, the Relief Market,
located opposite Upper Iweka
Fly over, Electronics International
Market, along Enugu
Onitsha expressway opposite
Premier Breweries, the
New Auto Spare Parts and
New Tyre Market all located
in Nkpor and the Building
Materials International
Market Ogidi; Concessionaires
and Bakery Market located
opposite it were also
closed for business and the
perennial traffic hold-up in
the area disappeared.
Other markets and small
scale industries, like Osakwe
Industrial Cluster, where plastic
and waterproof materials
are produced and the old
Motor Spare Parts Markets,
popularly known as Ngbuka
Obosi Market, were all shut
down in compliance to the
sit-at-home directed by IPOB.
All banks located within
Onitsha, its environs and suburbs
and the ones located near
all the popular and small
markets in the commercial
city, including those located
in Awada, Obosi, Nkpor, New
Market and Old Market
roads in Onitsha, were all
closed for business contrary
to their earlier plan to open
for business following the Anambra
State government's
directive that workers in the
state must report to work.
Civil servants
reported to work
around noon in
Awka
In Awka, the sit-at-home order
was observed in the major
cities during the morning
hours but ended around noon.
Shops started opening in
Awka when they observed that
there were no IPOB members
harassing people although
the Awka main market did not
open for business until afternoon.
Civil servants who tried to
be in their offices as directed
by the state Head of Service,
HOS, were unable to do so
because commercial vehicles
were off the roads in obedience
to the IPOB order.
However, most of them later
went to their offices when
vehicles returned to the roads.
When Vanguard visited the
Jerome Udorji secretariat in
Awka, many workers were on
their duty posts but the population
was not as it used to be.
The Onitsha- Owerri highway
and the Awka- Ekwulobia
road were totally devoid
of the usual traffic, while the
banks and the filling stations
were all shut as at the time of
filling this report.
At Ichida in Anaocha local
government, some youths
mounted road blocks and any
vehicle that came that way
was asked to part with some
money.
A woman who was traveling
from Awka to Ihiala to
attend her community's annual
August meeting told Vanguard
that she was forced to
part with some money at two
road blocks before she
reached her destination.
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