SUSPECTED gunmen have killed two officials of the South-East regional security outfit, codenamed Ebubeagu, in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The incident, The ICIR understands, happened at the popular Ebebe junction, along Ogbaga road in the state capital on Friday night.
The Vanguard newspaper quoted an unnamed eyewitness as saying that many people scampering for safety also sustained various degrees of gun injuries.
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“It was last night around 9.30pm. I passed through that place and a full complement of Ebubeagu operatives cordoned off the location.
“The victims were taken to the Alex Ekuweme Federal Teaching hospital, Abakaliki, but before they could get there, two of the victims died, while others with bullet injuries are now receiving treatment.
“Everybody around the location of the incident went inside their houses for fear of becoming victims,” the witness said.
The remains of the Ebubeagu personnel had been deposited at the hospital.
When contacted, the police public relations officer, Chris Anyanwu, confirmed the incident.
There have been widespread criticisms of the Ebubeagu outfit and reported cases of abuses by its operatives by residents in the South-East. The security outfit, which was founded early this year in response to the growing insecurity in the region, has allegedly become a weapon of victimisation against political opponents in the region.
In October, the Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South District, Linus Okorie, was reportedly abducted by Ebubeagu.
Okorie’s wife, Lilian, who in a live video on her verified Facebook page announced her husband abduction, accused the Ebonyi State governor David Umahi of using Ebubeagu to commit the crime.
Although the state government did not deny the allegation, police spokesperson Anyanwu would later told the media that Ebubeagu did arrest Okorie, but not abduct him.
He said the police were “briefed” by the security outfit that Okorie was arrested for “his activities and utterances that incited and provoked the violence that engulfed Onicha Local Government Area of the state.”
The PPRO said the incident led to an attack by gunmen suspected to be members of IPOB, an outlawed group, who reportedly killed seven persons in the area.
“Hence, the case has now been taken over by the Police Command for preliminary investigation,” he said, without giving details.
“It is also pertinent to mention that Honourable Linus Abaa Okorie also has a pending case in which he is implicated in a drug-related offence where the suspects purported to be his agents were arrested for hard drug sales and use at his City Hub Inn, Mile 50, Abakaliki,” he added.
Anyanwu did not, however, say whether the drug case was part of the reason for Okorie’s arrest.
“(The) case was later transferred to the NDLEA for further necessary actions,” he stated.
He said Okorie was also accused by the state government of spreading fake news against Governor Umahi, alleging that he (the governor) illegally withdrew the sum of N6.7 billion from the government’s account to fund the Appeal Court judgment against his removal from office.
He said the LP candidate rebuffed police invitations to respond to the allegations against him, but instead filed “fallacious suits” against the police in the state.
He defended the arrest of the LP candidate by the Ebubegu operatives, insisting that the security outfit “is a lawfully established local security outfit by the House of Assembly and Government of Ebonyi State” and that the security outfit was empowered by the state law to arrest anybody.
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