By Charles Igbo
It was a horrifying sight to behold at Isinweke, Ihitte Uboma, Local Government Area, Imo State, on Thursday, April 14, 2022.
Gunmen, numbering not less than 10, stormed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Continuous Registration Voters’ Centre, and embarked on a shooting spree.
As a sizeable number of people gathered for the civic exercise, the gunmen came shooting, ordered everybody, including children who came with their mothers for the registration, to lie down flat on the ground. They then embarked on a shooting spree, screaming on top of their voices, and kept asking the people what they came for, and why they dared come.
“Look at the people we are fighting for their freedom. Today is April 14, 2022. You came here to do what? Who asked you to come? Do you think we are joking?” The gunmen operated unchallenged.
Shivering and traumatised, the people lay on the ground. One woman clung to her baby. Another covered her child with her body. In another scene, mother and child clung together.
As they lay, faces “pinned” to the ground, and listened to the statacco of gun shots, one of the gunmen aimed directly at the chest of the INEC staff in charge of the centre, identified as Anthony Nwokorie, and shot him twice on the chest. He died on the spot.
According to INEC, two other officials are missing, perhaps, taken hostage by the gunmen. The Commission has suspended the exercise in the area, till further notice- if ever.
The tragic incident is a minus for the South-east, a region angling for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023.
The Zone has the least number of registered voters in the country. The incident is likely to worsen the situation which many thought could improve with the continous registration exercise.
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