CHRISTMAS: Kidnappers and gunmen terrorize Igbos in southeast villages

The South East’s growing insecurity has made this year’s Christmas very uneventful in many communities. Although many people wanted to return home to celebrate with their families, their relatives were the ones who discouraged them.

In fact, nearly 90 percent of those who returned to Nigeria from abroad for Christmas were unable to visit their villages in the South East due to insecurity. People are afraid to return home because of the threat posed by kidnappers and gunmen operating in the area. One of the people who returned from Europe with the intention of traveling to the East had to abandon the plan and spend the time in Lagos.

“Almost 90% of those who returned to Nigeria from abroad for Christmas could not travel to their villages in the South East due to insecurity,” he said in a video he apparently made out of frustration. They are spending the foreign currency they would have spent on their people in Lagos hotels. Their villagers are even traveling to Lagos to see them.

“All of this is happening because the people of the South East refuse to listen, and the ultimate losers are the poor people in the villages. As a result of this dreadful development, the South East’s economy is collapsing. Everything in the South East is currently in shambles. Because people are afraid to return home, the Christmas celebrations in the South East are a shambles. It is the people that invited this calamity on themselves and blaming outsiders for their woes”.

Saturday Vanguard discovered that the era of performing traditional marriages in South East cities has resurfaced this Christmas. For example, a Nigerian from Nsukka in Enugu State who was to marry a lady from Isiukwuato in Abia State had to perform the ceremony in Enugu city due to insecurity, particularly along the Enugu-Okigwe axis. Furthermore, the resumption of robbery and touting by government task forces claiming to be generating revenue for the state in Onitsha, Anambra State, scared many people away from returning home for Christmas.

The killings in Ehamufu, Uzo local government area, jolted many people in Enugu State, prompting them to cancel their Christmas plans. As a result, many people held their annual family gatherings via WhatsApp and Zoom because they couldn’t meet in person.

Unlike in the past, churches in the South East’s major cities were packed this Christmas because most people did not travel to the villages.

A critical examination of this year’s Christmas season in Imo state revealed that people did not return to their villages in the same numbers as in previous years.

All respondents who spoke on the development agreed that the level of insecurity in the South East geopolitical zone, as well as the country’s poor economic climate, were largely responsible for the non-return of Ndigbo to their country homes.

A retired banker, Mr. Sylvester Egbe, said: “I must tell you that people, generally did not return to their ancestral homes for this year’s Yuletide as was the case in the previous years.

“I was called from home on Thursday of the previous week and told not to return for Christmas due to palpable insecurity in our area.

“A sad example of the state’s heightened insecurity was the assassination of a promising young man, who was given the Labour Party’s House of Assembly ticket, in my local government area, Onuimo.

“He was brutally murdered about two or three Thursdays ago in the middle of the night in my town.

“His house and vehicle were completely burned, while his wife and children were beaten to unconsciousness!” Likewise, his neighbor, a welder, was killed.

“A week prior to this ugly incident, no fewer than four people were killed near Umuna and three days later, people were shot along Umunachi”.

Mr. Egbe said he did not see any vehicle loading opposite the Correctional Centre in Owerri on December 11, 2022, when he was supposed to go home for a family meeting.

“I had to return to my house, sent text messages to people at home and the meeting was cancelled. The level of insecurity became so high that our annual town union meeting, which was held at our home on December 26th, was canceled due to insecurity.”

Another retired banker, Mr. Cyril Obi, who responded via WhatsApp, said: “Members of my family and I, did not travel home this Christmas. Because of the economic crisis and security challenges in my area, Awo-Omamma, the same is true for my siblings and members of their families.

“According to our investigation, many homes were vacant. Those who returned were extremely scarce and extremely boring for those who returned.”

Texting a message from his Okwu Emekuku country home, Owerri North local council area of the state, Sir Seth Agukwu said: “Just a few of our people came home for the Christmas. It could be for security or financial reasons.”

A former lecturer in Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, AIFCE, Owerri, Dr. Anthony Ekwe, said: “Many people didn’t come home as in the past in my area, Emii, Owerri North local government area. This is primarily due to the economic crisis that many Nigerians are experiencing.

Sir Chidi Osuji stated that while he spent Christmas in Port Harcourt, he was unsure whether he would return to his village for the New Year.

“Perhaps I’ll look for a very strong disguise that will allow me to move around the village,” Osuji said.

Contributing also to the enquiry, Mr. Chimezie Ugochukwu said that his area was completely empty as “people did not come home for Christmas”.

“My area is completely empty, people did not come home for Christmas,” Ugochukwu said. I contacted a friend, who advised me to stay in the city because people were reluctant to travel due to the country’s economic situation.”

Senator Samuel Nye, National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party,

Anyanwu, blamed the festering insecurity in the South East, on “the absence of love, unity and peace amongst stakeholders in the society”.

According to him, “once members of different political parties begin to see themselves as a people created by one God, the issue of acrimony, rancour and backbiting, will be a thing of the past”.

He called the behavior of some supposed leaders “unfortunate, regrettable, and unwholesome,” saying they “should be in the business of making peace, but end up creating crisis in society,” and urged them to turn a new leaf.

Because of insecurity, the celebration in Abia State was low-key.

Despite a significant improvement in the state’s security situation, particularly during the holiday season, not many people returned to their communities, as they had previously due to accumulated fear.

According to Saturday Vanguard’s investigation, many communities that were a hive of activity during this time period in previous years were very dry and empty.

Speaking on the issue, Hon. Ugochukwu Uwaeke, former General Manager of Abia Line Network Transport, from Isuochi in Umunneochi local government area, said many people did not return home for fear of the unknown.

Remember that Umunneochi has recently been a hotbed of insecurity in Abia State due to the atrocities of suspected herdsmen and bandits.

“People did not return as much as before, primarily due to insecurity in our area,” he said.

He did, however, note that no incidents of insecurity occurred in the area during the festivities, which he attributed to the combined efforts of local vigilante groups and traditional security agencies.

“There is improved security and the presence of the police and Army. “Our local vigilante’s efforts, supported by the community and some individuals, are bearing fruit,” he said.

Uwaeke, on the other hand, attributed the emptiness of the communities to accumulated fears about insecurity in the area.

“People did not return home as before due to previous fears,” he added. Even those who have returned have not been as mobile as they once were. Everyone is hiding for fear of the unknown.

“We thank God there was no incident of insecurity in the area this time except in the first week of December, but the military responded promptly, and since then, everywhere has been calm”.

Similarly, Dr Isaac Nkole of Ndioji Abam Community in Arochukwu LGA told Saturday Vanguard that the area did not see a large number of people returning from abroad due to insecurity.

He noted that, while there had been no security breach in the area during the festivities, locals were afraid of being attacked by herdsmen.

“This is Abam’s worst Christmas ever. Following the clash with herdsmen three months ago, everyone is being cautious and circumspect.

” There is fear all around. Everything is parched. The APC government has let us down. It has demonstrated that it is incapable of protecting Nigerians.

” People are complaining about insecurity and, now, hunger. “It’s never been this bad before,” he agonized,” Nkole said.