“Give Us Heads Of Those You Beheaded”, Nigerian Army Demands From Ebonyi Community

By Adesina Soyooye

The Nigerian Army has denied that it lost two soldiers in the bloody Ebonyi communal clash. Instead, the Army is looking for the heads of natives who were beheaded during the clash.

It has, therefore, called on the perpetrators of the attack on Okporojo, Oso Edda in Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State to release the heads of the victims which they took away after beheading them.

The community was invaded by their attackers who not only killed five people but beheaded four of them whose heads they made away with.

The attackers also burnt many houses in the area and inflicted injuries on many residents.

The Okporojo Oso Eda has been at war over land with their neighbouring Amasiri in Afikpo Local Government Area of the State. The unending war has cost both communities scores of lives and properties worth millions of Naira.

Strongly condemning the attack on Okporojo, the Army urged the perpetrators to release the heads of those they killed and beheaded.

The call for the release of the heads was made by the Cantonment Commander, Nkwagu Military Cantonment in the State, Lt Col. Ikenna Chielo. He regretted that the killings occurred when efforts were ongoing to resolve the land dispute between the two communities.

He said: “Amasiri crisis did not start today. It’s a long time crisis, even the past administration made efforts to resolve it.

“Committee was set up to resolve it, it involved a lot of people. I think the present, traditional ruler  of Amasiri was the chairman of the committee at that  and a report was made on the crisis.

“It was forwarded to the government. And when this government came and said, okay, let’s implement this, a lot of work has been done  by the present government to resolve the crisis. While these efforts were on, people were killed.

“One of the key issues is that we want the heads of those people. You can’t kill people. It’s not enough that you kill them.

“You now cut off their heads as if they are animals. What are you doing to the heads of your fellow human beings? And what is even more painful is that these are our brothers. It’s not as if it’s Yoruba or Hausa or any other tribe or someone from Mali or Niger.

“These are people from the same ancestors. It’s really saddening. While I was growing up, I never imagined that something like this could happen in Nigeria.”

The Commandant also put a lie to the rumour that two military personnel deployed to the community were killed. He explained:

“What happened was that the first day of our deployment, probably they assumed that the strength of the soldiers there were very few.

“And they came and attacked us, actually and we responded. The only thing is that, because the area was a built-up area, they had to be cautious so that we don’t have casualties of shooting stray bullets and killing innocent people in their homes.

“If not, that night, a lot of things would have gone wrong. We just tried to be very professional. If we had used annoyance or emotion to act that night, it would have been bloody.

“We were  attacked, aside that, none of my soldiers has been killed in this operation”.

Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, in reaction to the clashes, sacked all his appointees from that area. He also deposed all Traditional Rulers and dissolved all Town Unions in the Community.