Gunmen kidnap five kinsmen in Anambra

SERG accuses S’East govs of politicking with lives
About five kinsmen of Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano were on Saturday kidnapped by gunmen who blocked the Igbariam–Nando road near the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) office en route Aguleri, Anambra East Local Council.

Though details of the abduction were sketchy at press time, it was reliably gathered that four young men and a lady were believed to have run into the roadblock mounted by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The abductees, The Guardian gathered, were coming back in two vehicles from a traditional marriage of Gab Onyeaka in Awka, the state capital.

Narrating the incident, a young man who escaped the kidnap by the whiskers, Chidi Nwachinwokechi, said the first vehicle, a Toyota Venza occupied by the couple and three others, was cordoned.

The founder of Early Christian Ministry (ECM), MariaGorethi Uzoamaka, had prophesied massive attacks by Fulani jihadists in the South East and South South geo-political zone.

She revealed that some of the jihadists would manage to speak Igbo, Efik, Ijaw, Itsekiri native languages to deceive the unwary into recruiting them.

MEANWHILE, the South East Revival Group (SERG) has accused the governors in South East of playing politics with the lives and property of Ndigbo by not taking decisive actions to prevent the take over of Igbo forests by criminal elements.

While reacting to the recent killings in Ebonyi State and other parts of the region, the group’s President and National Coordinator, Chief Willy Ezugwu, stated: “The Igbo should hold the South East governors responsible for the ongoing loss of lives and property in the region due to security challenges.”

He added: “We recall that at the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), SERG urged the South East governors to launch a central body to coordinate both relief efforts and security amid the pandemic when it became obvious that the Federal Government was not providing the needed palliatives and security to curb influx of strange persons into our forests.

“We advocated tougher security measures in the South East, particularly when we saw the obvious invasion of the region by some suspected killer herders. Our call was after reports that some unknown persons were strategically taking over South East forests. As usual, the South East governors never adhered to the advice, but only mouthed a phantom plan to set up a security network for the zone.”

The group called on all Igbo sons and daughters, at home and in the Diaspora, to hold the governors accountable for lives and property lost to the invaders.