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Gunmen kill couple, kidnap five people in Ebonyi

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Esther Ikwuo, Elizabeth Ikwuo, Chinechere Nnachi, Ogbonna Aku topnaija.ng

On Wednesday, two persons from the Ekoli Edda community in the Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State were killed by gunmen allegedly from the Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State.

The gunmen, it was gathered, also abducted five persons from the community. It was learnt that those killed were a couple, Mr Okoroafor and Mrs Paulina Ndukwe, while those abducted were Esther Ikwuo, Elizabeth Ikwuo, Chinechere Nnachi, Ogbonna Aku, and Sunday Ogbu.

Investigation revealed that the Ndukwes were killed around 4pm at the Erei Palm Plantation located at the boundary between Ekoli Edda and the Biase LGA in Cross River State.

It was gathered that the gunmen took the corpses of the couple along with the abductees to an unknown destination. The son of the deceased, Kalu, who sustained bullets wounds while escaping from the attackers, stated that he saw his parents being slaughtered by the gunmen.

The new Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi State, Mr Philip Maku, said, “On June 30, 2020, around 4pm, the DPO of the Afikpo South LGA received a distress call that gunmen from the Biase LGA of Cross River State attacked some persons at the Erei Palm Plantation, located at the boundary between Ekoli Edda in the South LGA of Ebonyi State and the Biase LGA of Cross River State.

“Following the report, the DPO quickly contacted the youth leader of Ekoli Edda, who also informed him that an eyewitness to the alleged attack, one Kalu Ndukwe, narrowly escaped with bullet wounds, but saw his father, Okoroafor, 55, and his mother, Paulina, 49, being slaughtered by the attackers.

“The gunmen also abducted five others – Esther Ikwo, Elizabeth Ikwo, Chinechere Nnachi, Ogbonna Akuand Sunday Ogbuu Ama. The victims were said to have been taken to an unknown destination together with the corpses of Okoroafor and Paulina Ndukwe.”

While describing the incident as heinous and barbaric, the CP said the command had dispatched a combine team of policemen and soldiers in the area with a view to rescuing the abducted persons and arresting the perpetrators.

“Meanwhile, preliminary investigation revealed that the attack was as a result of the resurgence of a longstanding communal feud between the people of Ekoli Edda in the Afikpo South LGA of Ebonyi State and the Biase LGA of Cross State,” Maku added.

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