The attack on Nimbo community in Uzouwani LGA, Enugu
State by Fulani herdsmen may have come and gone, the damages will
surely remain for ages. Families, friends and sympathisers have been
mourning their deceased ones and the community has been deserted
following the incidence of the early hours of Monday, 25th April, 2016.
Saturday Sun paid a visit to some families that lost their
beloved ones in the attack and more facts emerged. Mr. Dennis Eze, a
brother to late Mr. Maxwell Eze who died in the attack has this to say.
“We are still in shock. We never knew this attack would happen because
there was information prior to the attack and the security agencies were
alerted one week before the attack yet they couldn’t do anything to
stop it”, Mr. Dennis said.
Explaining how the attack happened, he
said: “We had a meeting on Sunday evening where we discussed how to
protect our community from the attack if it took place. It was around
3am on Monday that a warning bell was rung and woke everybody up, but we
never knew it was the Fulani herdsmen that rang the bell so that we
could come out. Behold, there were armed men in their large numbers and
they started shooting at us. What saved some of us was that we have
dispersed settlements in our community. Before some of us could come
out, we heard gunshots and we ran for our lives instead of going to the
village square. Only those who live close to the village square were
killed. My own house is far from my brother’s own. Some also managed to
escape.”
Another eyewitness who identified himself as Ifeanyi Onyeabor said
that the herdsmen came to the community through Ameke village around
12am on Monday and laid ambush to attack by 3am. “We believe they came
into our village around 12am and laid ambush to attack us by 3am. The
information we got was that they would attack Uzouwani but no community
was mentioned. We even thought it would be Abbi community because of
the crisis they are having with Fulani herdsmen”, Ifeanyi said.
On the part of the security operatives, Ifeanyi said the security
agencies did nothing to avert the attack despite the fact that they were
given a first hand information about their hideout. “Our informant
spotted where the Fulani herdsmen camped in between Ameke village and
Eshi river and we reported to the police. All they could do was to
patrol along Nsukka – Adani road without making any effort to chase
them away from their camp”, he revealed.
When Saturday Sun asked for the name of the informant and
how he got the information, Ifeanyi said “A man from Opanda whose name
was never mentioned said he came in contact with his Fulani friend who
warned him to leave Uzouwani with his family and run for his life saying
they had recruited over five hundred armed men from Niger and Nasarawa
states to attack Uzouwani on Monday. The man said he asked the Fulani
man the target but the Fulani man could not tell him. He only said the
attack will not happen at Opanda. Before then, they had relocated their
cattle to Benue”
“Another man who spotted them at their camp at Ameke was in his farm
when he saw them. He wanted to run but they told him not to run because
they were not after him. They told him they were going to another
community for revenge and not his community. The man came back and
raised the alarm and the security agencies were alerted immediately
through the Caretaker Committee chairman of Uzouwani LGA, Hon. Cornel
Onwubuya”, he explained further.
Motive for the attack
Mr. Ifeanyi Onyeabor claimed he had no idea what the Fulani herdsmen
avenged but another informant who would not want to be mentioned has a
good information. The source said his Fulani friend came to him and
showed him a picture of a Fulani man who was butchered at Uzouwani and
they claimed it was Nimbo people that killed him because they also
discovered a grave in Nimbo where two Fulani men were buried
upside-down.
“He came to my house at Opanda one week before the attack and showed
me the pictures. He came with two pictures, one has the image of a man
that was sliced like bread and the other has an image of a man whose
belly was sliced open and his intestines were removed. He told me that
they discovered a grave in Nimbo where two of their people were buried
upside-down and they attributed the other two killings to Nimbo people.
He told me that they would attack Uzouwani but he never mentioned
Nimbo”, the source revealed.
However, the families of late Raphael Irege and Adeja Nwagu have
continued to mourn their fathers who were killed in the attack.
Speaking to Saturday Sun, Mrs. Ijeoma Catherine Irege, the wife
of late Raphael Irege said she wanted to demand for justice over the
death of her husband but the way the security agencies handled the
attack made her to believe that getting justice will never be possible.
“What else can I say or do? I want justice for the death of my husband
but it has dawned on me that such a thing is not possible in this
country. If the government and the security agencies in Enugu State and
Nigeria cannot do anything to stop the attack when they received first
hand information that could have helped them, it would be stupid to
hope or ask for justice. One will not be wrong to even say they
collaborated with the security agencies. What will become of me and my
family? Where do we go from here?”, she lamented.