About 18 persons have been killed across six communities in Orsu local government area of Imo state.
Yet to be identified persons on January 5th, 2025, killed 18 people across Umukabia, Eziawa, Ihitte Nasa, Umuhu, Amaoku, and Amaebe villages, all communities within Orsu local government area.
Already, videos of the dastardly acts are circulating across social media platforms, especially on X, including that of Prof Chidi Odinkalu, former chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission, where indigenes of Orsu local government are trying to draw the authorities‘ attention.
Already, the police have confirmed the killings even as a joint security investigation team has been set up.
A source who pleaded anonymity told Leadership that the killings occurred just after the annual masquerade festival across the communities on January 5th.
According to him, after the masquerade show, some locals based outside the state who returned for the yuletide decided to go to a drinking joint to spend some time.
However, they were soon discovered dead by passers-by around the area, lying in a pool of blood with suspected heavy machete wounds on their bodies.
The source said in Umuhu, Amaebu and Eziawa, nine persons were discovered dead in a pub with machete cuts all over.
He said, “We discovered everybody in the joint dead, all nine people, whether customers, owner, or attendants, they were all butchered with deep machete cuts all over“.
He said there may have been inside conspirators with the perpetrators due to the smoothness of the killings and lamented the massacre.
He added that three corpses were discovered in Umukabia involving family members, five corpses in Eziawa village, and another five corpses in Ihitte Nasa, all with machete cuts that exact January 5th.
“These people killed three people in Umukabia, five in Ezinwa, and another five in Ihitte Nasa villages, and nobody saw the killers come in nor when leaving. Orsu lost 18 lives in a single day. I don‘t know how they did it, and nobody saw them enter or leave”, he said.
Police spokesperson for the Imo state command, DSP Henry Okoye, said, “The police are aware of the killings, and already CP Aboki Danjuma has set up a high-powered security team involving the different security agencies to unravel the case. The CP appeals to people to remain calm.”
Orsu was considered the headquarters of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and Eastern Security Network, who took control across the local government area. In contrast, locals escaped to other places for safety.
However, due to the massive military assault on the groups, some normalcy has been restored. At the same time, locals have started returning to some communities with a military presence.
There are suspicions that the attacks may subtly instil fear into the people and make them leave again.
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