Tony Okafor, Awka
Residents of Ogbaru in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State have cried out that soldiers are killing their productive youths in the guise of fighting crime and criminality in the area.
The locals’ lamentation, it was gathered, followed an alleged killings on Tuesday night, 28th and early hours of Wednesday, 29th June 2022 at Ossomala, Umunankwo and Obeagwa communities by the army.
A source who spoke in confidence said,”Troops of the Nigerian military comprising the Navy and the Army have killed dozens of innocent citizens in the productive age bracket in Ogbaru.
“The deployment of the military personnel in this area begun in the evening of Tuesday during which they claimed to be looking for unknown gunmen that recently laid the area under siege.
“The soldiers turned their guns on the defenceless and unarmed natives and others while abandoning the forests that are the hideouts of the unknown gunmen located inside big river/swamp forest of Obene-Ochuche/Umuzu/Okija divided by Ulasi River.
“The soldiers were mobilised from Ogbaru Naval Base and Onitsha 302 Artillery Regiment in over 20 trucks with arms and ammunition. They targeted defenceless locals mainly young males and opened fire on them at close range and killed scores. They also wounded and arrested others who are later to be questionably labelled as “ESN/IPOB hoodlums”.
Viral videos of the alleged attack showed abandoned corpses shot on the foreheads, heart regions, stomach, back and reproductive organ region littered in severa locations in the community.
They soldiers were also accused of invading several places of veneration and destroyed them or displayed their symbols or linked their adherents to IPOB and ESN.
Speaking on the development, a security analyst and board of trustees chairman of a rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law ( Intersociety),Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi, described the killings as a genocide.
He said, “No doubt that Ogbaru is one of the Anambra Council Areas presently under the grip of syndicated criminal entities engaging in several nefarious activities including abductions, killings, armed robberies and ransom demands as well as counterfeiting ESN trademarked modes of operation by attacking security operatives and government facilities.
“But latest findings by Intersociety showed that the criminal entities are camped inside big river/swamp Forest of Obene-Ochuche/Umuzu/Okija divided by Ulasi River. The area covers Ogbaru Communities of Atani, Amiyi, Umuzu, Ochuche, Akiri-Ozuzu, Osamari, Umunankwo and Ogwuanaocha
“Information available to Intersociety also has it that they have camps at different forests in Umunankwo and Ogwuanaocha.
“Consequently on the night of Tuesday, 28 June 2022, over 20 trucks of soldiers, arms and ammunition were mobilized and the areas were invaded in an aimless war grade operation and instead of the military personnel including Naval and Army Personnel from Ogbaru Naval Base and Onitsha 302 Artillery Regiment going into the affected Forest camps, they let loose on innocent locals, shooting them at close range including foreheads, chests, manhood and other terminal regions.
“Several or dozens were killed in the end as you might have seen in the videos and pictures of the aftermath of the invasion.
“The rampaging military personnel also went into villages and broke homes at late night, forcing scores to be killed and other defenseless natives of the affected communities to escape through River Niger and others.
“The sanctity of human lives was never prioritized or considered, likewise the principles of use of force. The pictures and videos of the incident clearly connote ‘egregious and industrial scale massacre of unarmed citizens.’
“Our findings further showed that the slain could not have been armed members of the criminal entities because judging from the attached pictures and videos, nobody, not even relatives or friends of the slain would have dared nearing the corpses and wailing or screaming profusely or checking them if they are to be forest based members of the criminal entities or “Unknown Gunmen” especially the street criminal entities or counterfeiters.
“The pictures and videos also circumstantially indicated that the slain were members of defenseless locals and have nothing to do with “Unknown Gunmen” who the Nigerian security forces have severally and publicly acknowledged to bear charms preventing bullet penetration.Also no armed person could have been shot at such close range and killed easily that way at his terminal region without dodging and stiff defensive resistance.”
Our correspondent could not establish any contact with the army for reaction as of the time of filing the report.