Things go awry in Enugu Community: Many displaced, houses razed as Oruku boils

If stories emanating from Oruku, an agrarian community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, are anything to go by, the village currently faces existential threat following the resurgence of communal crisis.

In the last three weeks, no fewer than 50 houses have been razed while many residents have been displaced.

The crisis, which is traceable to age-long moves for a part of the area to become an autonomous community, has made another set of people in the area to have taken up arms, resulting in the destruction of property worth millions of naira.

The remote factor leading to the controversy, Vanguard learned, is the pressure allegedly being mounted by the Umo Ode clan for another part of the community to be separated from the entire town.

The matter, which predates the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, was said to have resulted in the creation of an autonomous community from the community. The action was aimed at ensuring that peace returned to the troubled area. But reverse became the case.

Police

Ever since, Oruku community, Vanguard learned, has been in one form of crisis or the other, with the latest being fallout of the death of one Emma Mba from gunshot injury sustained in the hand of the Police. The Police were said to have stormed the village to rearrest the deceased.

Until his death, Mba was regarded as the traditional ruler of the community, though some members of the community didn’t recognise him as such. The state government, however, recognised him as the traditional ruler of Oruku.

Following his death on December 26, 2020, it was gathered that the community has not known peace as youths believed to be sympathetic to him have been burning houses and intimidating perceived opponents.

As of press time, many people have deserted the community, making the indigenes call on federal government to urgently intervene in the matter.

Explaining these to Vanguard on behalf of Oruku community, a legal practitioner, Mrs. Amaka Nwigwe, said it became imperative to seek federal intervention since efforts of the state government have not given way to peace.

She said members of a vigilante organisation founded by the late Mba are the ones currently terrorizing villagers unrestrained. As of press time, Nwigwe said the number of burnt houses had risen from 12 to 50, calling for quick intervention by the federal government.

Running away

According to her, “the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the event of December 26, 2020. The men of the Nigerian Police who arrested the late Emma Mba, his younger brother, Ejike Mba and four others in Abuja got a hint that the above named, after jumping bail granted them in 2020, were in Oruku community, moved to rearrest them.

“Unfortunately, the location of the late Emma Mba which was the Oruku Town Hall was already surrounded by members of neighbourhood watch/bodyguards.

On sighting the Nigeria Police, the neighborhood watch members opened fire, leading to an exchange of gunfire between them and Nigeria Police. The late Mr. Emma Mba was caught by a bullet on his thigh while running away.

“The Police rushed him to National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu, for treatment before he died.

The arrest of the late Emma Mba unsettled his neighborhood watch/bodyguards, which led them into burning and wanton destruction of property belonging to his perceived opponents. The perpetrators are patrolling the community fully armed, searching for people.