If in the next few hours (or even before you read this piece) you hear that officers and men of the Nigeria Police have made good their threats and enacted another Odi in Umuaka, a large, prominent town in Orlu Senatorial Zone, in Imo State, it won’t be because sufficient warnings have not been voiced about the impending tragedy. More than one week ago, an army of angry policemen overran the town, killing, maiming, destroying properties and valuables, and threatening more mayhem. Since then, the policemen have laid siege to Umuaka, and their threats and violence have continued with every brazenness and impunity. The despoiled community, violated, conquered, and prostrate before fierce, gun-wielding, rampaging policemen, have cried out, but their anguished cries and tearful laments have merely hit on the deaf ears of those in authority and bounced back to them. Their pain and frustration have deepened, because, their tormentors, obviously emboldened by the unfeeling attitude of the authorities, have become even more ferocious and adventurous. In Owerri, Gov Achike Udenwa, who had briefly touched the scene of the massive destructions in Umuaka has set up a Commission of Enquiry to probe the mayhem. And while Udenwa’s Probe Panel is “sitting” several miles away from the trouble spot, the policemen have continued to unleash terror and violence in Umuaka with sadistic gusto.

 

This problem started like most problems caused by the police. According to residents of the town who spoke to this writer last week, while on visit to the area, three sons of one man were using their father’s long truck to convey bags of cement from Umuaka to Orlu. Both the truck and cement belonged to their father. As they descended the very steep slope that led to Njaba River Bridge, policemen who had mounted their usual roadblock at such an odd place, sought to stop them, to collect their usual toll of twenty-naira or more. The driver may or may not have attempted to obey the order of the officers to stop, because of the risk involved in trying to stop such a fully loaded truck at that very point. But what is now known and has been proved to be true is that an impatient and angry cop among them shot at the driver, hit him badly on the side, and the accident that followed brutally terminated the lives of the three occupants of the vehicle. Yes, the three sons of one man were gruesomely murdered. There is also the belief that the driver was fatally wounded by the bullets of the murderous cop, and so, he abandoned the control of the vehicle, and that led to the fatal crash.

 

The Njaba River marks the boundary between Umuaka and neigbouring communities. A lot of business activities usually flourish around the banks of that river, and people from several neighbouring communities are involved. As the people who witnessed this gory incident surged towards the scene of the accident, the policemen took fright abandoned their vehicle and fled. In anger, the faceless mob, allegedly, torched the police van. Later some good Samaritans arranged for vehicles, and conveyed the corpses of the three murdered young men to the police station in Umuaka. Incidentally, the police station is located at Achara, Umuaka, the very community where the three murdered young men hail from. It is possible that the police did not know the identity of the dead men, that they were from the very community hosting their station,   else, they would have handled the matter more carefully, so as not to inflame passions. As the corpses arrived, and the people around rushed to the police station to see them, cries of anguish and sorrow rent the air. A man had lost three sons in one day! The man’s name is Livinus and his wife is Livina. Oh, the three sons of this hapless couple were wantonly killed while driving their father’s vehicle and conveying his goods. Somebody said that Mr. Livinus sells cement, and his sons were carrying the cement to supply to a customer in Orlu. As it turned out, that trip turned out their last on earth! The news, as would be expected, spread with frightening speed. The crowd at the police station swelled. Everybody wanted to catch a glimpse of the recent tragedy successfully enacted by the policemen. Emotions ran high. Rage was freely expressed at the senseless and brutal murder of three innocent young men in their prime, by trigger-happy cops. What happened next can only be blamed on spontaneous outpour of emotions. There were reports that when the policemen at the station learnt that the murdered boys were from the area, they quickly abandoned their station and fled. Angry youths then torched the station, and demonstrated against the gruesome killings.

 

Soon, the police responded to this affront with extreme, boundless brutality and violence. Last week, they descended on Umuaka with every ferocity, sadism, murderous zeal. They went to Afor Umuaka Market, a very prominent market in Imo State, and carried out such a devastating  destruction the people never imagined was possible in their town.  They destroyed every vehicle they saw parked anywhere, set buildings ablaze and destroyed sources of livelihood of many innocent people. Vehicles at mechanic workshops were not spared. A woman in the community said the policemen would pour fuel on the houses and shops, release several shots on them, and up they would go in flames. Shots rent the air. The policemen were obviously enjoying their operations. For them, it was sport, but for the people, it was pain and anguish. What used to be a vibrant, beautiful city-centre now wears the look of an area that just witnessed a civil war.  

 

To cap it all, the police gunned down three other people, making the death toll to rise to six – a modest number, given the reputation of our policemen on matters like this. The people believe the casualty figure might be higher. For instance, the body of one of the victims of the recent killings was discovered in a bush. Many more could be discovered in the days to come, even as the police swarm the town like a territory they have conquered and annexed, regulating movements, issuing chilling threats, harassing people, and spreading fears everywhere.

 

The police alleged that while the police station burnt, some of the youths made away with some guns found there. So, as you read this, policemen are everywhere in the town, threatening and warning that unless the guns were recovered, they will raze to the ground the whole place. Community leaders, have temporarily forgotten their sorrows and mourning as a result of the mass destructions and gruesome murders already achieved by the police, to ward off this new and ominous threat to their lives and existence. Search parties have been organised and some guns have, allegedly, been recovered and handed back to the police, but the threats and harassments have continued unabated. Many people are running into temporary exile, to seek refuge in neighbouring communities. They have seen what the police are capable of doing, and are not prepared to take any chances. Last week, while I was at a neigbouring community monitoring developments at the war spot in Umuaka, a pastor who had escaped from there brought his family to that community, to keep them away from death and destruction. He was wise enough to regard the police threats as no joke. I spoke to another man, a civil servant, who had packed his family into his car and sought refuge in a neighbouring community. He lacked words to describe the situation. A woman told me her family may soon run away because they no longer felt safe. There is a serious smell of death and bloodshed in the air in Umuaka now. Even till now, people are fleeing the area in droves, some without any clear preparations for their emergency exile. Also, countless people have been captured by the police and are languishing in police cells, probably, for no other reason that they are from Umuaka, or happened to have been outside their homes or even at their homes which were invaded by the police during their senseless, bloody adventure. They may not even have been aware of what actually happened when they were brutally taken captive by the police.

 

Now, note, dear reader, that right now, no one is talking again about the three sons of one man murdered in cold blood. No, that has become unimportant. Even the others killed when the police invaded the town have all been forgotten. What everyone is concerned with now is his or her safety, to escape the bullets that may soon start raining on everything that moves in the town. And while all these are on, policemen have mounted fresh roadblocks on the same road, collecting an even higher fee now, from those brave enough to still ply that Owerri-Umuaka-Orlu Road. Most motorists are avoiding the road.

 

Somebody should, please, call this heartless, murderous uniformed killers to order. Indeed, no one doubts the ability of Udenwa’s Commission of Enquiry sitting at some cozy room, probably over sumptuous lunch in Owerri, to duly record all the atrocities, extent of destructions and casualty figures after the smokes of police gun expedition ends in Umuaka, but of what use would their neatly prepared report be to dead men and women felled by police bullets? The most important thing now is to ensure that the planned mass annihilation being enthusiastically announced by those bloodthirsty policemen in Umuaka is successfully aborted. Let no further blood be shed. They should also be stopped from spreading further fears by their ominous threats. In fact, they should vacate the town. Also, both the Commissioner of Police and Gov Udenwa himself should visit the man whose three sons were killed and condole with him. It is most unfeeling and extremely callous to treat such a great tragedy with such ungodly levity. Also, the Governor should order the release of all innocent people languishing in police cells over what the know nothing about. What the town needs now is healing, justice and peace, not threats, violence and intimidations.

 

The policemen that perpetrated this evil must be fished out and made to face the law. The recent bloody expedition of the police in Umuaka must be abhorred and condemned with the fiercest contempt by all men of decent will.