11 councils under police watch over rerun polls in Anambra

ABOUT 11 council areas of Anambra State have been placed under a 24-hour surveillance ahead of the rescheduled Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)-ordered rerun elections to forestall further breakdown of law and order.

The councils include Anaocha, Dunukofia, Njikoka, Idemili South, Ihiala and Ekwusigo. Others are Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Aguata, Orumba North and Orumba South councils.

The surveillance followed the alleged burning of three vehicles belonging to supporters of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) by suspected thugs of a rival political party in Agulu, Anaocha council area at the weekend.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Emeka Chukwuemeka who confirmed the incident yesterday said that an intense hunt had already begun for the hoodlums.

He warned parents to put their children under control and to go about their normal daily activities peacefully without the  fear of molestation. According to him, anyone who allows himself to be used as a political thug would be dealt with.

The police image-maker said the report on the incident involving the burning of Mitsubishi L300 bus belonging to the Anaocha council chairman of ACN, Chief Raphael Egbobe and another Peugeot pickup van parked in his compound at Ogbu-ifite village, Agulu by unknown gunmen who invaded his premises late Thursday night was received. He also noted that a town- crier Emeka Okafor who was contracted to announce a proposed rally of the ACN candidate for Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia federal constituency, Mr. Dozie Nwankwo was equally noted. He said security men had been detailed round the families of these individuals who had been under threat and that the situation was under control.

Narrating his ordeal, the town-crier, Okafor, from Nkitaku village, Agulu said: “I got several phone calls from someone who gave his name …  a known trouble-maker in the neighbourhood who is also the chief thug of a highly placed state government official (names withheld).

“He warned me to stop announcing or working for ACN or any other party, apart from the APGA, or he would kill me and my family”.

“Because I had no previous problem with him or any other person, I simply told him that I am not a politician. That what I do is just a job from where I feed my family and that I work for all persons, group or associations without discrimination”

Egbobe, still traumatized from the ugly incident, said his children told him some strange men in a black Toyota Hilux Jeep invaded his compound late Thursday night asking for his whereabouts and his wife that they had bags of rice and an envelope to deliver to him. He said he lost 11 cartons of wine and some personal effects.

But when they learnt that both he and his wife were not yet back,  the strange men intensified their demand for them to open the gates but were rebuffed by the children. So they left and came back at about 11p.m. shooting sporadically into the air, before scaling the fence to set the vehicles ablaze and ran.

When the family raised the  alarm calling for help to salvage the vehicles from the fire before it spread, the hoodlums came back shooting in all directions, and the neighbours ran for their lives