The Police Authorities in Umuahia, Abia State capital, said on Thursday that it they are yet to get any clue on the immediate and remote cause of the killing that occurred in Amangwu, Ohafia in Ohafia Local Government Area of the state Tuesday night where five persons were allegedly killed and eight villagers wounded.
The vandals, in addition, allegedly burnt some houses during the attack on the sleepy village.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Geoffrey Ogbonna, who spoke with our Reporter at the Police Headquarters in Umuahia, explained that his office has not been officially informed by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ohafia of what actually transpired on that fateful day leading to the fatalities.
According to him, though he was not ruling out anything including cult related violence, the people that suffered losses in the violence have not reported the matter to the police for investigations to commence.
“I’ve been in contact with the DPO in Ohafia since the incident occurred on Tuesday and he has consistently said no person, either the victims or their relations, have reported incidence to the police.
“The police cannot barge into such matters without being invited. The police may be attacked if they do so. There’re cases where they ask you (the police) ‘who invited you into this matter?’ and by that they may attack you in the process.
“If the police is invited, we’ll designed a strategy of handling the issue and how best to move in to restore order. But for now, the DPO is saying nobody has reported the incident to them except the ones they hear from the media”, he said.
Sketchy report from the troubled community indicated that two cult groups engaged each other in a battle of supremacy, leading to the killing of a native, one Mrs Ucha Kalu Ndukwe and daughter, Chibuzor Nora Ndukwe. The woman was reportedly accused by a rival cult group of being an informant to their rival.
The daughter, it was reported, just returned from Lagos. The traditional Ruler of the Community, Ezieogo Nmecha Ugba Nmecha could not be reached for comment.
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.
