The lady who was panting as she narrated their (travelers’) experiences to this Magazine said “bullets were flying in the air like birds. It was an ugly experience that I don’t want to recall; it’s a nightmare”, she cried.
Meanwhile, reports coming out from Umuagu Ibeku, an outskirt of Umuahia Urban say the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Abia State Command of the Nigeria Police came under heavy attack as at 5:58pm Saturday evening, May 29, 2021 by unknown gunmen.
The gunmen thereafter set the building ablaze. This however, has been confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the State Command, Geoffrey Ogbonna, a Superintendent of Police who spoke to our Reporter in Umuahia.
Said he, “State CID Umuahia came under attack about an hour (6pm) ago: details not handy at the moment, please”.
Nonetheless, scanty report from the area located at Umuagu in Umuahia North LGA, an outskirt of Umuahia town, said the gunmen came in a sienna vehicle at about 5:40pm, shooting sporadically at the direction of the station before setting it on fire.
Casualty figure as at the time of filing in this report is unknown. It was not equally known whether detainees in the station were released, but reports stated that the police in the station fled as the station came under heavy fire.
As at the time of filing in this report, huge smoke could be seen billowing into the air as residents of the Umuagu and environs ran helter scatter, some shut their doors. In Umuahia main town, shops were hurriedly closed, while motorists and tricycles operators disappeared from the streets.
This made commuters to trek long distances to their homes to escape being hit by stray bullets, some collapsing on the way. Meanwhile, scores of soldiers have taken over the vicinity of State CID police station. But before the arrival of the soldiers, the unknown gunmen had gone.
Eyewitnesses said sounds of bullets could be heard in the direction of Umuagu which is located along the Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Ohafia-Arochukwu highway as at 8pm. Motorists traveling from Umuahia to Ohafia or Arochukwu had to return to Umuahia to avoid being shot.
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.
