Gunmen kill 2 vigilantes, abduct 4-year-old schoolgirl

Two members of a vigilance group attached to Umukohia community, close to the Obingwa Council headquarters, in Abia State, were, on Wednesday, shot dead by suspected armed robbers.

The deceased, whose names were given as Chidi Appolos and Ikechi Eliazu, were said to have confronted the gang who came to look for one of the residents of the area, when they got shot at close range, while some of their colleagues took to their heels.

Daily Sun gathered that there had been incessant armed banditry and killings in the area, leading to calls on the state government and security agencies to come to the aid of the people.

A survivor of the recent incident, who did not want his name made public, called on the authorities to come to the rescue of communities in Obingwa, which is Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s home council area and close to Aba commercial city.

Though the state police public relations officer, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, did not respond to calls by Daily Sun, as his phone was busy when he was contacted, a senior police source in the area said secret investigations on the rising criminal activities in the area had started.

In another development, the police has been asked to unravel those behind the disappearance of little children in the area, as a parent lamented the loss of his four-year-old schoolgirl, Excel Uchenna, who was abducted by a commercial motorcycle operator, along the Umukalika/Mgboko/Obikabia road.

Little Excel’s father, Chiemela Uchenna, said she and her elder sister, were returning from school in a commercial tricycle, when the driver of the vehicle stopped close to a nearby shop and tricked the sister to go and buy biscuits, but on coming down the kekeman zoomed off with the four-year-old child who had not been seen since then.

Residents in the area are now living in fear, as tension continues to go high, with the upcoming electioneering period and heightening political activities, with some claiming those behind the kidnappings and disappearance of children may be working for politicians who use them for rituals to attain success.