Even now, I still shudder at the recollection. I won’t go to a psychologist or psychiatrist for that matter because they have a way of complicating matters. I will bear this cross with equanimity, the way my people have always borne them. The memories will never fade away. It still draws my tears as it is happening right now.
It was 1973! Dear God, you won’t have the fairest idea how stubborn I was. Possibly it was caused by the bombs and sleeping in bunkers by my pregnant mother. I was part of that generation bombed out of the womb by the Biafran war. And you expect me to be ‘normal’?
That year my father had moved to the city – Umuahia, and usually came visiting us at home during the weekends. This particular day, as he prepared to go back, I got ready to follow him to see Umuahia. To see the cows and the trains. My father, a great story teller, had told us all about Umuahia.
No mountain could stop my resolve. Beatings, threats, lockups in his room, I broke through all of them. Grandfather who heard all the noise that early morning intervened on my side. He long saw through my spirit. We did things together at his shrine. I was never afraid. So to Umuahia I went with my father.
That early morning journey started with a long trek clutching my raffia bag against the cold. There was only one transporter from our village to Umuahia. He had a rickety peugeot 404 station wagon. Father was furious that the delay I caused him would make him miss the vehicle’s once a week trip to Umuahia. I told the spirits that they should make sure that vehicle stayed put until I was inside. They did.
It was the longest journey of my life. The road, the other passengers complained was too rough, bombed out during the war. Umuahia was our then Capital and Ojukwu’s army headquarters. It did not matter to me. I was going to Umuahia.
I was enthralled by the running bushes both sides of the road. My father never mentioned that bushes ran. It was a tale I added to my repertoire for years. Like my father, I became a story teller.
I refused to sleep all through the journey, disappointing all the adult co-passengers. The only thing they had agreed on was that the breeze will send me off to sleep in a few minutes. They disagreed on every other thing especially the road conditions and the war.
At Imo river, our car stopped for the cars coming from the opposite direction to pass. We also used the opportunity to disembark and stretch our legs. Till then, I had never heard that there was a river bigger than Onuinyi river in my village. I went closer and had a good look. The iron bridge scared me. It quaked so much. It was not like that before the war, the adults said. The signs of bombs were still all over it.
Then I saw them. They were actually the cause of the delay crossing the river. The army check point. I have heard so much about armies. We all knew about them. But seeing them in such large a number, all armed and menacing was deeply frightening.
‘Stop there! Park! All of you get out!’ screamed the booming voice of one of the soldiers, gun at the ready. Mother had pleaded I shouldn’t go. I should have obeyed her. I died before my father could bring me down. My legs could no longer hold me. I needed to release a hot piss. It wasn’t possible. I started crying.
‘Who are you, yes, you on coat?’ he asked my father. He was the only one wearing a damn coat amongst all the hundreds of passengers milling around. I cursed his profession. Years later, when he sent me off to study law, I came back with a degree in history. That damn black coat.
‘I am…. I am going to Umuahia High court,’ came his forced courteous response.
‘Everybody lie down!’
I was already flat on my small belly before I heard ‘down.’
‘Lawyer, you are not among,’ came a more civil voice. My father remained standing and told me to get up. I refused. I clutched the earth and tested the nzu soil of the Imo river banks. They took our driver away. They all returned soon smiling. And off we went, on our journey to Umuahia.
From 1973 till date, I have always seen them, men of the check points, clutching their menacing guns, voice booming, eyes red, threatening. But I did not see them today. What could have happened?
You, who have never been in our shoes, do not judge us.
Something does not add up! Or perhaps fall in place in the early Easter Monday morning attack on Owerri Prisons and the neighbouring Police headquarters.
Something about the attack does not smell right. The attack appears so contrived, so convenient.
From my bed a little less than two kilometres from the scene I began to hear gun shots and bangs( explosions) from at about 2am. The sounds did not stop until about two hours later after which I fell asleep.
After I woke up and saw posts which informed me that it was the Prison and the Police Headquarters that had been attacked, I concluded that it must have been a blood bath.
One in which both sides sustained huge casualties given the amount of gunfire I heard the night before. It was indeed a big surprise to read a little later that the only casualty of all that firing was a policeman who was shot in the shoulder.
Even more surprising were the stories that the attackers were not challenged through out the operation and that they had time to muster and chant victory songs with the released prisoners after the attacks.
Anyone familiar with the location of both the prison and the police headquarters would be as surprised as I was. The prison shares a fence with the police headquarters. Beside ,the police headquarters is the former DSS headquarters which is still in use by DSS staff. Beside, the DSS office is Shell camp Police station and behind it is the biggest police barracks in the state where at least one hundred police men live with their families.
Across the road from the police headquarters is Government House where the state governor lives with a retinue of armed security men from various services.
Sharing a fence with Government House is the residence of the commander of the military formation at Obinze, the 322 Artillery brigade.
A few metres from his house is the residence of the state’s commissioner of police.
It is indeed difficult to understand how some people could operate in that area for three hours, shooting, blasting, burning and singing and no move was made to stop, or counter, their attack.
Also, some of the people who got to the scene early yesterday said they were prevented from taking photographs. They said they did not see bullet holes or pock marks on the walls of the buildings attacked or spent bullet shells littering the ground as should have been the case given the duration of the firing.
So what could have happened? Another big surprise is that no reinforcement came from the military base at Obinze all through the the attack.
Many residents of Owerri will recall that several years ago a similar attack took place.
A band of criminals attacked the then Standard Trust Bank’s branch on Wetheral road after midnight.
The shooting kept half of the town awake for hours, with everyone wondering what was happening.
Eventually, soldiers from Obinze barracks moved in to confront them.
The soldiers dislodged the criminals and chased them as they sought to escape.
The Billion Naira question is why didn’t the soldiers appear this time around?
This is not the first time we would be witnessing a dubious jail break in Imo state.
A few years ago a notorious kidnapper escaped from the High Court premises.
Shots were fired and it was alleged that many people died and many more were wounded.
At the end of the day it turned out that no one died and that the only people who sustained injuries did so while they were running away and not from the shots fired.
However, the haste to rope in IPOB and ESN is not a surprise.
That has been the pattern.
Anything that goes wrong in any part of the country, even in places far removed from the South East, IPOB and ESN are named as the culprits. Meanwhile, ESN have said they had no hand in this attack, while insisting that their area of focus is the forests where the herdsmen hide.
Most of the vehicles set ablaze in the police station did not belong to the Police force or police men. They were vehicles belonging to ordinary Imo people which had found their way to the police headquarters for one reason or the other.
They were probably impounded until their owners could “settle”.
Surely the attackers would have known this.
The question then would be why would a group that says it exists to protect the interests of the Igbo man, inflict so much hardship on some of those they say they are protecting?
For months now, some people have been going around attacking soldiers police men at checkpoints and burning stations in the South East.
The result is that the police men have retreated into their shells and criminals have taken over.
Again the question is why would IPOB/ ESN expose their people who interests are their priority, to such danger?
Attempts have been made to blame IPOB and ESN for the attacks and they continue to deny the allegations.
This weekend, a couple of days before the Owerri attack about seven Fulani men who were going about their business were attacked and killed.
Again it was blamed on IPOB/ ESN without any evidence or proof.
It would appear that some people somewhere are doing their best to give the IPOB/ ESN and by extension the Igbos a bad name.
We saw similar moves during the ENDSARS riots in Lagos.
It did not matter to the accusers that Igbo businesses and property in Abuja and Lagos bore the brunt of the looting and rioting.
When one recalls how efficiently a peaceful protest was infiltrated and turned on its head by hoodlums procured and dropped at various locations by people who appeared to be government officials, there is need for Igbos to keep their eyes open, come together and work to avoid the snares set by people who for reasons best known to them would want to set Igbo land ablaze. Clearly, it is not everyone who is pleased with the relative peace and calm which exists in the region.
Finally, not withstanding whatever the motives of those behind the attacks may be, the intelligence and security lapse which failed to nip this attack in the bud or counter it should be investigated thoroughly.
This is to ensure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.
It is not enough to conclude immediately, without any investigation or evidence, that a particular group was responsible.
Gunmen on Tuesday razed the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area Divisional Police Headquarters in Imo State.
This development came just a day after unknown gunmen attacked Owerri Correctional Centre and the Imo State Police Command headquarters, freeing 1,884 inmates and razing over 50 vehicles.
Tuesday’s attack came few hours after the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, the just sacked Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, and other Government functionaries visited the state to inspect the level of damage on the attacked security facilities.
According to Punch, on arrival, the gunmen freed all the suspects in detention before setting the Police Divisional headquarters ablaze.
Our correspondent gathered that the gunmen operated without any resistance from police.
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have shot dead two mobile police officers in Taraba state.
The officers were shot dead on Monday night at a checkpoint in Dogon-Gawa community located in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State.
The checkpoint is located on the highway linking Takum Local Government Area and Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State.
Chairman of Takum Local Government Area, Shiban Tikari who confirmed the incident said the colleagues of the deceased police officers went to a nearby town to get foodstuff for all of them before the gunmen struck.
He condemned the incident and added that the gunmen came in motorbikes
”This is indeed unfortunate and uncalled for. They came on motorcycles, opened fire on the two police officers unexpectedly, killed them, and took away their rifles.
“The two police officers that were killed were left by their colleagues to man the checkpoint who went to a nearby town to get foodstuff for all of them.
“The gunmen came on motorcycles, they open fire on the two policemen, killed them, and took away their rifles.
“This has caused tension, but I have tried my best to calm the situation down,” he said.
The council chairman however revealed that the bandits usually disguise in special joint tax force uniforms to commit such heinous crime.
The police public relations officer David Misal when contacted by Channels Television said the state command is yet to get any information regarding the attack for now but promises to give more details as soon as possible.
President’ Buhari has approved with immediate effect the appointment of Head of Force CID, DIG Usman Alkali Baba as the new Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Baba replaces Mohammed Adamu who tenure was controversially extended by three months.
His appointment was announced by Minister of Police Affair, Maigari Dingyadi while addressing the State House Press Corps in Abuja.
The Minister said President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of DIG Baba as acting IGP with immediate effect.
It could be recalled that President Buhari had recently extended the tenure of IGP MA Adamu, mni by three months after he attained retirement age.
This announcement came amid reports that IGP Adamu had travelled to Imo State in the aftermath of the violence that rocked the state on Monday.
