Some soldiers attached to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu State have allegedly killed a neighborhood watch group member, identified as Ebuka Oke.
The deceased was said to have lost his father exactly one month ago.
NIGERIACRIME learnt that the incident occurred in Eke community, Udi Local Government Area of the state, where the soldiers were also accused of killing a housewife.
Also, a member of the local security network had his penis completely shattered during the attack, while others who survived are currently in critical condition in their hospital beds, amid severe pains.
Narrating their ordeal, the Assistant Chief Security Officer of Eke Security Neighbourhood Vigilante Watch, Mr. Emeka Anigbo, who also sustained several gunshot injuries, told newsmen that they were at the 9th Mile Corner on Thursday night where they had gone to felicitate with their colleagues who were being inaugurated as neighborhood watch members when the incident occurred.
Anigbo told journalists that his team was celebrating when a call came in that the major road leading to the popular Catholic Church Prayer Center (Ugwudinso) and Eke, from Ama breweries, had been blocked by armed robbers.
He said they immediately abandoned the food and drinks they were about to consume and swiftly drove out to confront robbers but added that they could not get to the crime scene with their vehicle due to heavy gridlock.
His words, “We decided to park our vehicle along the road, and started moving towards the place; while approaching the scene, we figured three armed soldiers who ordered us in a loud voice to stop.
“We obeyed the soldiers and stopped, telling them that we were neighborhood watch members. At that point, they then asked us to keep coming.
“On approaching where the soldiers were standing, they started firing at us, killing one of our members and the wife of one of those who were inaugurated at 9th Mile. She was on a motorcycle with her husband going back to Eke.
“Despite the fact that we were in our full security uniform and had identified ourselves, the trigger-happy soldiers opened fire on us at a very close range, killing the late Oke, and the woman.
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“After shooting me severally, while I was on the ground, one of the soldiers still, notwithstanding seeing my ID card and my uniform, went ahead to shoot me again on the shoulder.”
Furthermore, Anigbo explained that the soldier kept on matching him on his chest, boasting to kill him.
“In fact, it was the timely arrival of police operatives from the 9th Mile corner that saved my life. It was the police that stopped the soldier, confirming that we are Eke neighborhood security guards,” he said in tears.
The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Jonah Unuakhalu, has, however, denied the allegations, saying the deceased woman was killed by a strange bullet from armed hoodlums who engaged the soldiers in a shootout.
He stated that the troops received a distress call that some criminal elements were operating along the Eke road, and they immediately rushed to the scene.
He added that on sighting the soldiers, the hoodlums opened fire on them, but the security operatives overpowered them, leading to the arrest of one of them, and recovering of two pump action guns and some live bullets after some ran into a nearby bush.
The 82 Division Spokesman, who said he had no information regarding the second deceased, added that it was in the course of the exchange of fire between the troop and the hoodlums that a strange bullet hit the deceased housewife who was rushed to the hospital, “but unfortunately, later died.”
“So, there is no iota of truth in the information being peddled around that it was soldiers that killed the deceased.
“Our men only rushed to the scene to salvage the situation, after receiving a distress call.
“Unfortunately, the woman died, if not, she would have been in the best position to narrate exactly what happened,” he said.
He stressed that the Division will carry out a proper investigation on the incident to unravel what transpired.
However, a native of the community, who does not want his name in print has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to constitute a panel of inquiry to carry out a thorough investigation into the unfortunate incident.
He said the bullet shells recovered from the scene should be subjected to a forensic examination so as to determine their source.