Deadly attacks on police, Imo killing, other top stories from South-east

Here are the highlights of the top stories that made headlines in South-east Nigeria within the past week:

ASUU-Otti disagreement over salary payment

On Sunday 23 June, we brought you a report of disagreement between Governor Alex Otti of Abia State and members of the Abia State University (ABSU) Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Mr Otti earlier claimed that his administration has continued to pay workers’ salaries as at when due and was not owing any civil servant in the state.

But in a statement jointly signed by the ABSU-ASUU’s Chairperson, Chidi Mbah and its Secretary, Victor Obisike, the union said contrary to Mr Otti’s claims, only a “handful of staff” have received their April salary and “fewer have received their May salary,” as of 22 June.

The union said some of its members received their April or May salary, and not for the two months.

It pointed out that some members in the category also experienced unexplained deductions ranging from N8,000 to N50,000 from the paid one month salary.

Peter Obi visits family of LP governorship candidate abducted three years ago

Last Monday, we reported that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, visited the family of Obiora Agbasimalo, the abducted 2021 LP governorship candidate in Anambra State.

Mr Agbasimalo was abducted on 18 September 2021, less than a month before the governorship election in Anambra State which was held on 6 November 2021.

He has not been seen since his abduction.

Eucharia Agbasimalo, wife of the abducted LP candidate, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Obi visited the family at their residence in Lagos State on 16 June.

Relevant authorities, including the leadership of the LP, are yet to speak up on Mr Agbasimalo’s abduction.

Nigerian community invokes deities to stop frequent theft in hospital

We also brought a strange report about a Nigerian community which invoked deities against unknown persons stealing equipment from a hospital in the area.

The community, Ogurute-Uno in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, was said to have grown increasingly frustrated by frequent theft in the hospital.

The facility, Ogurute-Uno General Hospital, was newly constructed by the Enugu State Government.

A video clip, which has now gone viral, showed some members of the community invoking the deities in front of the hospital.

The incident happened in June.

Alleged police extortion of N810,000 from a Nigerian

The cases of extortion by Nigerian police continued last Friday when police operatives from Anambra State allegedly extorted N810, 000 from a resident in the state.

A human rights activist, Harrison Gwamnishu, drew the attention of the Nigerian police to the alleged extortion via a post on his X handle on Tuesday.

Mr Gwamnishu uploaded on the X handle a voice note of the unidentified man and screenshot of his transaction receipt indicating that the N810,000 was withdrawn from his bank account.

In the voice note, the victim narrated how the operatives allegedly flagged down his vehicle at Upper Iweka Onitsha and forced him to withdraw the money.

The operatives who were from the Area Command Onitsha, according to the victim, subsequently planted a pack of marijuana in his vehicle, which they planned to use to incriminate him.

He said the operatives also accused him of being an internet fraudster and forced him to handle the pack of marijuana while they filmed him, apparently to manufacture evidence against him.

After the attention of police authorities were drawn to the development by the human rights activist, the operatives returned the money to the Nigerian.

Extortion of students in Nigerian university by lecturers

In a related development, Rufai Oseni, a programme anchor at Arise TV, on Tuesday, shared a post on his X handle from an unidentified student of the University of Nigeria Nsukka alleging that there were ongoing cases of extortion of post-graduate students in the department of political science at the university.

The unidentified student alleged that some lecturers- mainly the department’s head and the coordinator of the university’s postgraduate programme – were extorting between N35,000 and N500,000 from post-graduate students

The student, according to the X post, was pursuing a doctorate degree in the department.

In response to the X post, the university management said they would investigate the allegations against the lecturers.

Five killed as gunmen attack police facility in Ebonyi, raze vehicles

It was a sad day in Ebonyi State on Wednesday when gunmen attacked Ishieke Divisional Police Headquarters in the state.

Residents told PREMIUM TIMES that the gunmen invaded the police facility at about 9:30 p.m. and started firing sporadic shots.

Five of the gunmen were later confirmed killed by troops of the Nigerian army who repelled the attack.

The attack showed that insecurity in the South-east has not slowed down.

Killing of a resident by police operative

On Thursday, we brought you a report of how a police officer allegedly killed a resident at a recreational centre along Echara Road in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The incident happened when the operative fired sporadic shots to disperse a crowd which had gathered during a scuffle between the manager of the centre and another operative accused of sexually assaulting a suspected commercial sex worker at the centre.

The slain victim has been identified as Chinedu Edeh.

The police in Enugu State said they had ordered an investigation into the killing.

Gunmen kill six in another attack in South-east Nigeria

Hours before the attack in Ebonyi, gunmen wreaked havoc in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State where they killed six people.

The gunmen who carried out the attack were suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militant wing, Eastern Security Network.

READ ALSO: Gunmen kill two police operatives in another attack in Nigeria’s south-east

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Aboki Danjuma, vowed that the police in the state will track down the killers. He appealed to residents to support police operatives with information about the attackers.

Killing of two police operatives in Abia

The deadly attacks and killings in the South-east continued on Friday when gunmen killed two police operatives and injured two others in Aba, the commercial hub of the state.

The gunmen were said to have attacked the operatives at their checkpoint at about 5:30 p.m.

The latest attack occurred barely a month after gunmen killed five soldiers in the state on 30 May.

The Abia State Governor, Mr Otti, later visited families of the slain operatives and vowed to stop attacks on security operatives in the state.

IPOB, a group seeking the independent state of Biafra to be carved out of the south-east and some parts of the south-south Nigeria, has been linked to the frequent attacks and killings in the regions.

But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.

Peter Obi calls for Nnamdi Kanu’s release

Like several others, Mr Obi, last Saturday, continued his call for the release of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, had made a similar call in March 2017.

A collage of Peter Obi and Nnamdi Kanu

Mr Kanu, who faces terrorism charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja, has been in detention since he was rearrested in 2021 and brought back to Nigeria from Kenya under controversial circumstances.

The LP candidate, speaking to reporters on Saturday in Onitsha suggested that there was no reason for the continuous detention of the IPOB leader considering that a Nigerian court earlier acquitted him.

PREMIUM TIMES conducted a fact-check on his claim and found it to be incorrect given that the ruling which initially discharged and acquitted Mr Kanu was later overturned by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.