The people of Obiawon village in Ogwe autonomous community, Asa in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State are said to be living in palpable fears following the recent discovery of corpses of yet-to-be identified persons dumped in a forest in the village.
While the people are said to be scared of arrest of innocent indigenes by security agencies who have reportedly been parading the community since the community members discovered the corpses, they are however calling on authorities concerned to ensure that there won’t be any outbreak of disease in the community.
Attempts by our reporter who visited the community with the help of a guide to visit the location where the bodies of the victims were dumped were unsuccessful as reports have it that personnel of security agencies in the area have been patrolling on the routes leading to the forest.
Some of the community members who spoke anonymously told our reporter that apart] from the bodies of about four persons found in a section of the forest, bodies of over 30 persons were spotted dumped in a ditch in another section of the forest.
A source who claimed to have seen the said 30 corpses said that they had started decomposing as indications show that they might have been dumped in the last two weeks by yet-to- be known persons.
“We are not at war with any community. All I can tell you is that our people are farmers and our business is farming. We were shocked when we saw the bodies in a forest in the village and one wonders who were those that took us unawares to come into our village to dump these bodies?
“We are confused, really over this development. Something urgent should be done to avert any outbreak of disease in our community.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in a release through its spokesman, Emma Powerful on Tuesday condemned the killing and dumping of the body of the deceased persons in Abia community.
Powerful in the release claimed that the bodies of the deceased persons were members of the pro-Biafra group who were arrested and detained in various army camps across the state during the Operation Python Dance II in the southeast and called on international bodies to investigate the killing and dumping of the bodies with the aim of unraveling those behind the dastard act.
“The site of these decomposed bodies should be designated as an international crime scene and promptly investigated.
“Should the United Nations, ICC, USA and European Union fail to act on this gruesome discovery of mass grave of Biafrans in Ukwa Ngwa, Abia State, we would conclude that there exists a credible bias and conspiracy to exterminate and Islamise Biafra by the pro-Islamic international community.
“As we draw near to the anniversary of the murderous invasion of Afaraukwu on the 14th of September 2017, we once again call on Igbo governors, the global Christian community, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other reputable and relevant human rights organisations around the world, to prevail upon the International Criminal Court, the Nigeria Government and her security operatives to release the remaining dead bodies of Biafrans in their custody since last year.
“An international panel of enquiry must be constituted, as a matter of urgency to investigate the atrocities of this Buhari regime against innocent populations in Nigeria and Biafra in particular,” part of the release read.
Efforts to reach the spokesman of the 14Brigade Command Headquarters, Ohafia, Major Oyegoke Gbadamosi over the allegation by the IPOB failed as his number could not be reached, but a source at the command who pleaded not to be mentioned, however debunked allegation, stating that it is the figment of the Pro-Biafra group who tries to seek attention whenever it seems that no one is giving them attention.
Credit: Nation
