According to a Vanguard report, Tuesday, February 28; Saturday April 22; Wednesday, May 17 and Sunday June 4, this year could be described as tragic days for Anambra state police command. These were the days it lost some of its gallant officers to gangsters whose mission was yet to be ascertained.
The gunmen had on February 28, 2017, broken the tight security in the state which Governor Willie Obiano had always referred to as ‘the safest state in Nigeria’ with the killing of a policeman identified as Sergeant Matthew Julius under the fly-over bridge at the New Auto Spare Parts Market, Nkpor, near Onitsha, along Enugu/Onitsha expressway.
The late Sergeant Mathew was said to be standing beside their patrol van and was conducting a stop-and-search at about 8.30 p.m. when the gunmen who operated on motorcycles shot him and another policeman identified as Sergeant David Alex.
Sergeant Matthew died instantly and his assailants took away his AK 47 service riffle, while Sergeant Alex who was shot on the leg managed to jump into the drainage and took cover until the gunmen left. He was later rushed to St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Mission Hospital, Onitsha, for medical attention.
Ironically, the then Divisional Police Officer at Ogidi, Mr. Hassan Musa (CSP), who simply confirmed the incident to newsmen on phone, disclosed that the policemen were on an illegal duty at Nkpor as they were officially assigned to Ukpo Division in far away Dunukofia Local Government Area of the state.
While the dust raised by the killing of Sergeant Matthew and injuring of Sergeant Alex was about to settle, another gang of two gunmen who operated on a motorcycle on Saturday, April 22, 2017, shot and killed an Inspector of Police at Ugwunwasike in Ogidi area, near Onitsha. Other policemen took to their heels on hearing the gun shot that felled their colleague.
The slain Inspector who was later identified as Usman Shaibu, and his colleagues who were said to be attached to Operations (Ops) Department, Police Headquarters, Awka were conducting a stop-and-search duty at Ugwunwasike when the gunmen on motorcycles allegedly swooped on them at about 2.45 p.m. and shot him dead, missing the others by whiskers.
Barely few hours after the killing of Inspector Shaibu, hell was let loose in various parts of Ogidi and Nkpor urban communities in Idemili North local Government Area of Anambra state as men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS embarked on mass arrests apparently in search of the two dare-devil bandits who killed Shaibu and took away his AK 47 service riffle.
An eye-witness stated that for several hours on that fateful Saturday evening, the SARS operatives mounted a patrol van at Nkpor junction and other strategic places, shooting sporadically on air and embarking on indiscriminate arrests of passersby, a situation which forced petty traders, bread and fruits sellers to hurriedly pack their goods and run home, until the ever busy Nkpor Junction was deserted.
After two consecutive days of the mass arrest, it was not certain how many persons were arrested in connection with the incident but barely two weeks after the incident, a gang of four persons were paraded by the state police command in connection with the killing. The incidence of Wednesday, May 17, shook residents of Nkpor as news filtered into town at about 2.30 p.m. that a policeman had been shot dead again by a gang of gunmen operating on motorcycles.
Following this development, street traders and residents near Nkpor Junction, the scene of the incident, were thrown into frenzy as they scampered for safety without waiting for the usual closing hours in anticipation of another police mass arrest. As usual, skeletal businesses were transacted for about three days at Nkpor junction as fear of mass arrests could not allow the petty traders to open their shops.
The attack on June 4 was still fresh in the minds of law abiding citizens of Onitsha when another gang of gun men shot and killed two policemen at Upper Iweka axis of the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra state and made away with the service rifle of one of the policemen. The incident, according to sources, occurred at about 7.30 p.m. when the gunmen on a motorcycle, opened fire on the policemen who were on a stop-and-search duty near the TRACAS bus stop at the Upper Iweka axis.
The source hinted that one of the deceased who was identified as Sergeant Ike Anari, died on the spot and the gunmen took away his service riffle, while the other identified as Inspector Onyia Cyril, died later at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH, Nnewi where he was hospitalized shortly after the incident.
The deceased policemen, sources further stated, were attached to Operations, OPS Department of the state police headquarters, Awka, but were posted to Awada Division within Onitsha metropolis. As news of their death filtered into town, policemen on stop-and-search duty in various parts of Anambra state then resorted to compelling Okada riders to disembark from their motor cycles on approaching checkpoints.
Similarly, another attack took place within two weeks when gunmen again shot and killed one more policeman at a checkpoint at Nkpor Junction and as usual, made away with his service riffle.
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