Residents of Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, yesterday decried the incessant attacks on them by persons suspected to be deranged.
The so called “mad persons” roam the streets of Abakaliki carrying dangerous weapons and objects which they use to attack unsuspecting members of the public.
The residents raised the alarm following an attack by a middle-aged madman on a 23-year-old girl, one Miss Ifeoma Nwajiji at about 9am yesterday morning while she was going to work along the ever-busy old Ogoja Road.
Miss Nwojiji was attacked by the madman when she came down from a business plaza along the road and was walking down the road when the madman used an empty bottle to smashed her face leaving her in a pool of her blood.
Narrating her ordeal, Miss Nwojiji said that she was coming down from a building along the road and was accosted by the madman and while she tried to run, the madman immediately jumped at her and smashed her face with a bottle he was holding.
She said some passes-by who observed what happened immediately come to her rescue. Some others made attempt to apprehend the madman but immediately, he observed that some persons were coming after him, he took to his heels and ran into an uncompleted building and the people lost sight of him.
Nwojiji with the assistant of the passes-by was rushed to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki in the pool of her blood where she is currently receiving treatment.
It would be recalled that a notorious young madman late last year caused havoc in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital when he used a log of wood to hit a young man in a commercial motorcycle at the back of his head which led to his instant death along Udemezue street Abakaliki.
The same madman had earlier along Saint Therese Catholic Church Ogoja Road, also used the same wood to hit a pregnant woman, a commercial motorcyclist, but fortunately, the pregnant woman survived the attack.
The incident prompted the relevant authorities in the state to immediately evacuate most of the mad people roaming the street of Abakaliki and restored normalcy to the state capital.
Reacting to the ugly development, a human rights activist in the state, Barr. Friday Igwe, expressed sadness over the influx of violent madmen into the state capital, describing the situation as “unfortunate and dangerous.”
He said last year, there was several reported cases of attacks of innocent citizens by violent madmen, adding that the state government intervened and evacuated the mad people in the street.
Barrister Igwe urged the relevant authorities to urgently arrest the situation to forestall a repeat of yesterday’s attack adding that young Miss Nwojiji would have lost her life if not for the quick intervention of passers-by.
