Palace, 34 houses burnt in community clash fought by cults

Following a cult clash in the Oruku community, in the Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, was a carnage involving an injured person, and 35 building burnt, including a palace.

The incident occurred between 6.30pm on Saturday when the gunmen stormed the twon, shooting till 7.30am on Sunday.

The community is now deserted.

According to a community leader and former Chairman of Nkanu East Local Government Area, Ejike Ani, a gang came to attack the community, adding that he reported the intel to the council chairman.

“I saw a post on social media on the indigenous people of Oruku Facebook account that some natives had hired some people from Benue State and that Oruku community would be attacked in less than one week, and in less than one week, we were attacked,” he said while conducting the state Commissioner of Police  Mohammed Aliyu round the abandoned community.

“I called the council chairman, Honourable Uchenna Nwobodo, and told him. He said he had called the Divisional Police Officer of Amechi Idodo and you can see the end result.”

He said there had been a peace meeting among different communities in the area, and all of them promised the CP in 2020 they would lay down their arms.

“Out of the 20 AK-47 rifles and two GPMG guns we had along the line, because of what had been going on with STS and our community, two AK-47 rifles were handed over to the state Director, DSS in 2020.

“So, some community members are still having 18 AK-47 rifles and they are using the guns now to hunt the people that went for the peace process; the people that signed the agreement with the Umuode community.”

The chairman of Oruku neighbourhood security watch, Mr Emmanuel Ani, appealed to both the federal and state governments to rescue the community from those who had refused to give peace a chance.

The CP condemned the incident and called for peace.