BY SUNNY DAVID

Suspected unknown gunmen while enforcing a sit-at-home order on Wednesday, burnt down buses and tricycles in Onitsha and Ihiala local government councils of Anambra state.

Security operatives immediately swung into action, dispersing the hoodlums and stopping them from causing harm to the public.

Our source who spoke with our correspondent said the activities of the gunmen were becoming deadly every day, adding that no day passes in Ihiala without heavy gun battle between security men and gunmen.

According to the source, children are not allowed to go to school because of the activities of the gunmen.

“I don’t know what these people need from us. They have collapsed the economy in Ihiala, people cannot stay in their shops and offices, and children can no longer go to school. We are living in fear. Government should do something to save this community,” our source stressed.

An eyewitness in Onitsha said some youths were seen wielding dangerous weapons on Wednesday, trying to disrupt economic activities in Onitsha in the name of enforcing the sit-at-home order.

According to our eyewitness, tricycles and buses were burnt down, forcing residents to run for their lives.

“Armed with guns and other dangerous weapons, the gunmen came out in their numbers on a motorbike and started shooting sporadically, in an attempt to rob a bank and to disrupt commercial activities and vehicular movement going on in Ihiala,” the eyewitness stated.

A message had been circulating on social media last week, stating that there would be a 4-day sit-at-home exercise in the South -East, beginning from Monday, May 8 to 11 and no reason was advanced for the order.

The police command’s spokesperson, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, who confirmed the incident, said the enforcers were confronted by police operatives and had been dislodged.

Said he: “Police responded swiftly which made the criminals escape the scene. The hoodlums, in an attempt to scare the residents from coming out to embark on their daily activities, stopped and set on fire commercial vehicles and tricycles plying the road.

“The residents courageously resisted the assailants and the fire has been put off by the Police operatives and some people in the area and meanwhile calm has returned to the area and the situation is under control and monitored.

“Unfortunately, due to the indiscriminate shootings by the armed group, a stray bullet hit the Chief Security Officer of a bank on the leg and he has been taken to the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment. No life was lost.”