Umuahia, Abia State capital, was thrown into anxiety and fear at the early hours of Tuesday, June 1, 2021 as rumours widely spread that some Fulani herdsmen have invaded Laguru, Ubakala Community in Umuahia South LGA of the state by 1am
This was the time many churches were holding their ‘Crossover Night’. Unconfirmed story informed that some herdsmen marched into the peaceful community by that time Tuesday with dangerous weapons, claiming that one of their cows was missing.
Another report claimed that a herdsman, who grazed his cattle to the community’s farmland earlier in the day, had had an altercation with a native, prompting the herdsman to stab the Laguru Ubakala native with a dagger.
The incident prompted a reaction from the youths who allegedly chased the herdsman to an undisclosed neighbouring community. However, this news spread to other parts of the town, raising tension and anxiety in Umuahia.
The report stated that the leaders of the community alerted soldiers stationed at the Isiala Ngwa axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, adding that they (the soldiers) later left the community without arresting anybody.
The development certainly caused anxiety in the city of Umuahia as people text and called one another, alerting them of the development. Many communities around Umuahia informed their indigenes through text massages, a development that led to many communities sounding local gongs (ekwe) to keep people awake.
Our Reporter gathered that able bodied men and youths in many communities around Umuahia trooped out to their village squares with any object that they could lay their hands on to defend their communities.
Geoffrey Ogbonna, the police image maker in the state, could not be reached for his comment on the matter as at time of reporting.
Uche Nwosu is a two time Shell Petroleum PLC award winner in the year 2000;
He won the Shell Award on Investigative Journalism and Environmental Cleanliness.
