The people of Eha-Amufu, a border town in the Isi-Uzo local government area of Enugu State, have dismissed as untrue alleged recent mass killings and arson in their communities.
This is even as one Mrs Amarachi Nnaji, a rape victim, dismissed claims of her death, stating that while the incident was tragic, she is recovering and rebuilding her life.
Some indigenes and leaders of the community spoke to journalists who were on a fact-finding mission to the area regarding recent viral videos of protests and counter-protests by groups of women over alleged recent mass killings and widespread arson in Eha-Amufu communities.
The president-general of Mgbuji Eha-Amufu, Donatus Odoh, who spoke to journalists, however, confirmed past mass attacks on the communities of Eha-Amufu by suspected herders before the coming of Peter Mbah’s administration, especially in 2022 when the community was sacked, leaving so many people dead.
“So, on the issue of the protest being done last week or so, based on the supposed killing of 100 or 200 persons in Eha-Amufu recently, as I saw in one video being circulated, none of that happened. I do not know where people are getting their information from.
“Nothing happened here in Mgbuji, Eha-Amufu, two weeks ago. However, an incident occurred in another autonomous community in February. There was one Igwurube Ndubuisi Donatus who was killed, but I cannot give details of what happened to him because I was not there. The way you heard it was the same way I got the information,” he said.
He also said that although the rape victim was from another community in Eha-Amufu, he was involved in arranging her medical treatment following the government’s intervention, saying she was not dead as claimed during the protest.
“I saw a woman being driven on a bike returning from the market the other day. She was healthy,” Odoh emphasised.
Another community leader, Chief Richard Ogenyi, said that for isolated incidents, security had continued to improve since the 2022 attack through the interventions of the state and local governments under Governor Mbah and the Council chairman, Barr. Obiora Obeagu.
He insisted that there were no such ongoing attacks and mass killings as portrayed by protesters on social media recently.
“From my view, they protested against the herder’s invasion of our place and their inability to farm like before because, as you can see, this place you are seeing now is called Orie Ogbete or Orie Uzo Ugbo Mgbuji. It was a lively place before the herders drove us away in 2022.
“So, how I view what happened one or two weeks ago as an independent person is that what the women did was good because it will create awareness.
“But the truth is that there was an element of politics in the protest, and I am not happy about it because they would have focused on the main issue.
“So, I am surprised to hear that many people numbering in the hundreds were killed in Eha-Amufu. After the incident of 2022, we have not witnessed such a number of killings being circulated.
“Since Obiora Obeagu’s second term and Governor Mbah’s administration, we have witnessed a lot of security improvement, and insecurity has dropped drastically. As for the recent protest on ongoing mass killings, none happened in Mgbuji here where I come from, apart from the damaging of crops by the herdsmen,” he stated.
Also, speaking with journalists, the council chairman, Obeagu, strongly refuted the story of any recent killings in Eha-Amufu communities, except that of an undergraduate.
He noted that the Mbah administration had continued implementing security and infrastructural measures since coming into office in 2023, ensuring that what happened in 2022 did not repeat itself.
He blamed bad politics and deliberate lies and misinformation for the protest.
“So, when people tell you it was a spontaneous protest, it was not. It was orchestrated and very well planned. In one of the clips I watched, a man was in the background like a hype man, trying to hype the situation. I heard him say that last week, 200 people were killed, and this week, 100 people were killed. Yet he did not show the burnt houses; nobody showed any images, and the things they discussed were graphic. People try to throw up things, but when you see them, you will know that they are things that happened two to three years ago. I saw a woman discussing what they did to her husband and herself in the last four years.
“In summary, we have challenges and problems, and we are dealing with them. If it was what happened in Eha-Amufu recently, there’s nothing like mass killings, nothing like the burning of houses by herders; it did not happen. Feel free to go into the town and ask questions. Tell them to take you to the place where all those things happened. I can bet nobody will show you one,” he said emphatically.
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