Ebonyi massacre: Indigenes call for change in security tactics

The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID) has called for a change in the government’s security tactics in the state following the report of recent attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Odoke, Ndiobasi and Obakotara communities in Izhi, Ebonyi Local Government Area.

The Ebonyi indigenes said the recent attack recorded the highest number of casualties in the Southeast region in recent times, insisting that the state government must find a better way to address insecurity in the state.

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“Natives of the three affected communities were slaughtered in their scores with many dead and several others critically injured,” the body said.

In a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja by the association’s President, Amb Paschal Oluchukwu, he expressed disappointment that “despite earlier signs and premeditations including an alleged audio voice note widely circulated on Social media which alerted on the plan to launch a fresh offensive on our defenceless citizens, the Ebonyi state government took no action to protect and defend the victims of this recent onslaught.

“We are greatly pained that helpless and hapless women, children and youths were cut in their prime in a dastard carnage that spanned for some hours while their victims were deep in their sleep.

“As we speak, medical and health-care workers in various parts of the State are offering treatments to scores of victims who sustained varying degrees of injuries during the attack.

“They have also been calls for ebullient citizens to provide clothing and other essential materials to the victims, many of who are stranded in the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, AE-FUTHA, Abakaliki.

“Our anxiety over these sadly depressing attacks is made worse by the fact that the State’s Chief Security Officer, Engr. David Umahi, on whose shoulders hugely lie the constitutional burden of protection of lives and properties of our beloved citizens has largely downplayed all sensible and reasonable warnings about the activities of killer herdsmen.”

While insisting that the state governor must change tactics in addressing insecurity in Ebonyi state, AESID said it would continue to blame him for the killings.