South East Unknown Gunmen: Who are They?

The hitherto peaceful South Eastern part of the country have recently turned into a war zone by those regarded as unknown gunmen


For over two months now, the South East geographical zone in Nigeria, comprising the States of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo and its environs have been subjected into a theatre of war as peace and tranquility, hitherto in abundance, have taken flight. Thus, the zone have been sacrificed on the altar of arson, killings, murder, kidnapping, abuse of human rights and vandalism by group the Nigeria Police christened unknown gunmen. The breakdown of law and order have become worrisome and reached crescendo in the region forcing the five Eastern Governors to establish a security network called Ebube Agu.

Earlier, the Federal Government proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Dissatisfied by the activities of herdsmen who defiantly grazed their cattle in people’s farms, kill those who resisted them, raped women and children without strong reprimands and consequences from the federal government, Kanu launched a counter grassroots oriented security network named Eastern Security Network, ESN, with a clear cut vision of resisting the herdsmen tactical vision and mission of extinction of lives and properties of members of the region.

However, it’s pertinent to point out that the modus operandi of the herdsmen and the ESN were quite distinct but they succeeded in escalating security situation of the region by instilling fears, rumours, hiccups, suspense, blackmail and propaganda. At a time, the criminal activities degenerated into arson, burning down of Police out stations, security post and INEC buildings, killing of security personnel, sporadic shootings and assassination of high profile personalities especially politicians became the order of the day such that the police reasoned that the illegal security outfit must have been well stocked with dangerous weapons as the tune of the macabre dance have suddenly changed.

For weeks, the Nigeria Police were confused as they tried linking the security agencies’ personnel killings and burning of Police and INEC offices to nefarious activities of IPOB/ESN which their spokesperson, Mr. Emma Powerful vehemently refuted. Thus, the Police have to hang the alarming criminal activities on the door step of Unknown Gunmen. The worst scenario was registered in Owerri on Easter Monday April 5th, 2021 when for over two hours, the people police tagged unknown gunmen attacked Owerri Correctional Centre in Imo State, freed all the inmates numbering 1,810, set fire on parts of the building housing the inmates including administrative offices. They equally moved down to the State Police Headquarters, wreaked havoc there without any resistance and released all the detainees in police custody. In all these, there were no casualties nor serious counter resistance. The then Imo State Commissioner of Police, CP Nasiru Mohammed accused ESN/IPOB of masterminding the mayhems which their spokesperson again bluntly denied.

As if the havoc they perpetrated within the vicinity of Imo state Government House was a child’s play, two days later, these men in a commando like style and similar strategic modus operandi of wearing black suit, holding palm frond in their mouth and having the mystery of gun bullets not penetrating their body, stormed Orji Police Area Command in Owerri, which is under reconstruction. They disarmed the officers on duty and set the entire office complex on fire including Police operational vehicles after releasing the detainees. After the incident, eyewitnesses reported that they came from the main road and started shooting sporadically into the thin air shouting any challenge! and the people started hailing them with No Challenge !! Responses. Ironically, they left unchallenged only for the security agencies to arrive 30 minutes later and started a cordon off, mop up, indiscriminate arrest and intimidation of innocent citizens. The then Imo state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ikeokwu in his press statement also credited the arson and other criminal activities to the handiwork of unknown gunmen.

This was how the cookies crumbled and similar security breaches being witnessed in some rural communities as police stations, security posts and INEC offices were burnt down at Atta in Njaba council area as well as at Ehime Mbano and Oru East. Earlier, the police reported that the unknown gunmen on a Sunday went and razed the ancestral home of Governor Hope Uzodimma at Omuma in Oru East and barely a week ago the same unknown gunmen were said to have gone to Ubulu Ihejiofo in Oru West LGA, the ancestral home of Hon Declan Emelumba, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy and burnt down his two houses, an upstairs and a bungalow. Agreed, the Easter Monday attack on the correctional centre in Owerri, during which about 1,810 prisoners, including both condemned criminals and those awaiting trial were let loose drew negative attention to Imo state, but the murder of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, a former Presidential Adviser to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on May, 23, 2021, have attracted so much attention to the state.

While security operatives have been battling unknown gunmen and known gunmen, who have launched vicious attacks on no fewer than 15 divisional police headquarters, the state police command headquarters, the Correctional Centre in Owerri, military checkpoints, offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission and others, cases of extrajudicial killings, human rights abuses and citizens intimidation by the military have reached astronomical heights as a result of the offensives they have received from the unknown gunmen, thus, the civil society especially in Imo State is bearing the brunt.

Our correspondent reports that in the last few months, many residents have been killed extra judicially in Imo state in an ironical pursuit of unmasking the unknown and known gunmen as Police still nick named them. Fresh in the minds of the people was the killing of a 200-level student of the Imo State University, Owerri, Divine Nwaneri, allegedly by soldiers keeping guard in front of the Imo State Government House. Nwaneri, 23, who hailed from the Obollo community in the Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of the state, was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, where she was pronounced dead.

The next day, a farmer, whose identity could not be ascertained, was allegedly shot in front of the Government House by security operatives. Residents of the city woke up to the ugly scene of the man’s corpse lying in his car. A woman, Mrs Chikaodi Ofoegbu, was also hit by a stray bullet from one of the guns of soldiers, who were in jubilation at a military checkpoint in Eziama-Obiato on the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway. The mother of four died before she could be rushed to hospital. Her husband, Benjamin Ofoegbu, a panel beater, told our correspondent that soldiers, who visited him, only told him to make a formal complaint at the Nworieubi Divisional Police Headquarters, which he said he did. As if that was not enough, military men who mounted a checkpoint on the Owerri-Orlu Road allegedly shot dead a businessman, Noel Chigbu.

Noel, a native of Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of the state, was shot in his new Camry car on the day he took delivery of it on the excuse that he violated a military checkpoint rule along Amakohia Owerri. His corpse was dumped in the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, while his car, bunch of keys and money (N5,400) were brought to the state police command headquarters and handed over to the then Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations. The widow, Chidinma, told our correspondent that Noel was intentionally killed by the military men, who were supposed to protect him.

While calling on the authorities to bring the killers to justice, the woman, who was four months old pregnant as of the time her husband was killed, said Noel’s blood was crying for justice. On May 31, Nigerian Air Force personnel at the toll gate of the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Owerri, allegedly shot dead a Germany-based Nigerian, Oguchi Unachukwu. Oguchi, who was rushing to catch a flight to Lagos from where he was to connect another flight to Hamburg, Germany, was killed in the presence of his wife, two-year-old son and four-month-old daughter, who were seeing him off to the airport. His wife, Ijeoma, told our correspondent in an emotion-laden voice that the Air Force men killed her husband without provocation. Asking the world to help her secure justice, the distraught 32-year-old woman accused the Air Force personnel of destroying her three-year-old marriage.

Three persons, made up of two female traders and an artisan, Matthew Opara, were killed by stray bullets as gunmen battled security operatives in a gun duel. Matthew’s elder brother, Chris, accused the military of intentionally killing him. He later told journalists that the 34 Artillery Brigade Command of the Nigerian Army, Obinze, Owerri, invited him over and apologised to him over the death of his brother. Also, an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Glory Nkwocha, was felled by a stray bullet in Orlu during a gun battle between joint security operatives and hoodlums in the state. There are also cases of human rights abuses and harassment by security agents in the state all in an efforts to unmask the unknown gunmen.

For example, there was the recent indiscriminate arrest and clamping into the Owerri Correctional Centre of 107 youths on the allegation that they were in collaboration with the unknown gunmen planning to overthrow the government of President, Muhammadu Buhari and that of Imo state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma. The youths were arrested randomly in different parts of the state, a development that generated public outcry and condemnation. Also, there is a grave allegation of corpses littering the morgue of the FMC, Owerri, a development that the Archbishop of the Catholic Ecclesiastic Archdiocese of Owerri, Most Revd. Anthony Obinna, decried, saying that he was at the hospital’s morgue to see the 35 corpses for himself.

The Cleric also disclosed that he was at the Owerri Correctional Centre to see the 107 youths unjustly being held. In a statement he issued later titled: ‘Stop the killings, convoke a ceasefire meeting, save Imo State; A charge to Governor Hope Uzodimma and all stakeholders’, Archbishop Obinna said, “Last year, exactly about this time, I charged Governor Hope Uzodimma and other Igbo leaders to protect our people and defend our land. That charge was provoked by threats and acts of invasion of our farmlands by herdsmen. “Now, our lives are at stake, as killings of Imo people are taking place in broad daylight and at night by both officially and unofficially armed men. Imo people are on the run from known and unknown gunmen.

“There is fear in the air and anxiety on the ground. Imo people are hiding, living in fear. Reports of indiscriminate arrests for no clear reasons and killings, as a show of power or in alleged retaliation, continue to spread. To further seek a lasting solution to the crisis in the state, the Commissioner of Police has reiterate his call on members of the IPOB/ESN, or any other criminal syndicate operating in the state especially those who stole Police arms and ammunitions to voluntarily surrender themselves to enable them get “soft landing”, or they will be arrested to face the full wrath of the law, as the Command will do everything possible to rid Imo state of crime and criminality.

However, the task of unraveling the unknown gunmen in the south east is a task stakeholders and every concerned citizen have continued to impress on the numerous security agencies in the zone to tidy up. Some commentators are of the opinion that mischief makers have hijacked the volatile situation to further their interest while confusing the state of affairs. The south east, nay, the entire human race cannot wait to unmask the unknown gunmen.