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| A deep matchete cut inflicted on a victim by the marauding Fulani suspected kidnappers. |
Gallant
Issele-Azagba Vigilante men and youths successfully repelled the attacks of
kidnappers believed to be Fulani and arrested one of them following a kidnap
attempt by the Fulani marauders in Issele-Azagba.
Unfortunately,
about two persons have been confirmed dead, one a teacher and a one of the
Vigilante men.
The
teachers rescued from the masked Fulani kidnappers attack on Monday, October 14th,
2019 at the Azagba Mixed Secondary School, Issele-Azagba in Aniocha North Local
Government area of Delta State, Mr. Urehi has been confirmed died.
Mr. Urehi was among
the four teachers that included the principal of the secondary school rescued
and rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba by the Vigilante and youths of
Issele-Azagba community.
The teacher died at the intensive care unit of the
Federal Medical Centre, Asaba as a result of severe gun shots wounds suffered
during the incident.
A community leader of Issele-Azagba, Hon. Richard
Tobe Ukwamedua gave the confirmation on Tuesday 15th October, 2019 in a
telephone interview with cshowcasenews.com.
Ukwamedua who is the Vice- chairman of Aniocha North
Local Government, also confirmed the death of one of the community youth who
joined forces with other well meaning residents of the community to wage war
against the kidnappers on that faithful day.
He said that after the incident, a head count was
carried out among members of the vigilante group as well as the youths of the
community and it was discovered that one person was missing.
“Already we have
another casualty; one of our boys, when we were doing our head count to know
how we went, we discovered that one person was missing and this morning we went
back into the bush for a thorough search. Unfortunately we saw his died body in
the bush,” he lamented and said that yet another teacher rescued was in a
critical condition at the intensive care unit of the Federal Medical Centre,
Asaba, confirming that bullets penetrated deep into the teacher’s liver causing
serious medical issue.
Narrating the incident, Hon. Ukwamedua affirmed the
number of the attackers to be eight masked men with high caliber fire arms
which included AK47 and pomp action riffles which he said they fired
sporadically at the Youths and the Community vigilante who fought back not
minding the consequences of the attacker’s superior fire power.
“We summoned courage, went inside the school and
chased them. They fired at us and we were responding in the same way too and we
were backing our boys with bullets. They saw that we were not relenting and it
was during the cross fire that the principal escaped,” Ukwamedua stated and
also confirmed that one of the attackers has been apprehended and headed over
to one of the security agencies.
“We got the
information that the Fulani herdsmen were moving towards the East of Okpanam,
our people are already in the bush again trying to see if they can get them,
but one of the suspected herdsmen has been apprehended and handed over to the
army because they were with us too,” he said, and revealed that the apprehended
suspect was discovered with the telephone set of the Principal as well as the
mask used for the operation.
Ukwamedua was full of praises for the youths and the
vigilante group of the community as well as other critical residents of the
community for their dogged fight against the attackers, saying that it was a
united fight against the enemies of the community.
“It was an all youth affair yesterday, whether you
are a vigilante member or not, everybody was on ground. The Okada men were so
helpful; they volunteer their time and ‘Okada’ throughout the period of the
war, moving us through the very difficult terrain,” he noted.
The Vice-Chairman however, called on the people of
his community and the Local Government area in general to remain calm and be
vigilant, saying that security is the business of everybody, and so they all
needed to be up and doing in the protection of the community and the local
government area.
He advocated for community policing while urging the
Government to give more powers to community vigilante groups with a view to
allowing them carry more sophisticated weapon as they go about fighting
dangerous criminals who he noted are always armed with sophisticated firearms.
Hon. Ukwamadua
further stated that he will be meeting with the Honourable member representing
Aniocha North State Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon.
Engr. Emeka Nwaobi with a view to seeing how the Delta State Government could
help the community in the perimeter fencing of the their only secondary School
as well as the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Issele-Azagba-
Otulu-Issele-Mkpitime Road, saying that the rehabilitation of the road as well
as the fencing of the school will go a long way in putting to check the
activities of criminal elements in the area.
When cshowcasenews.com contacted the Delta State
Police Public Relation Officer, PPRO, to have her side of the narrative, she
only said that, “the situation is under control” and did not say more than that
before she hanged up.
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Source: cshowcasenews.com
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