By Ovat Abeng
Some women of Ezinano ommunity in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra state have raised an alarm over alleged threats to their lives as the police from the defunct Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) Awkzu besieged a disputed land.
The women who spoke through their spokesperson, Mrs Gloria Chiama, alleged that the police on Friday invaded and occupied the disputed land between people of Ezinano and Umuzuocha communities in Awka both in the same council area and vowed to shoot at community leaders who included youth, women and elders.
Trouble was said to have started when the people of Ezinano arrived at their land on hearing that members of Umuzuocha have started erecting buildings indiscriminately on the disputed land.
According to Chiama, if not for the quick intervention of the State Commissioner of Police, CP Obono Nnaghe Itam, who ordered all the parties to leave the scene when contacted on phone, there could have been possible bloodbath.
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It was gathered that Ezinano people on arrival to the land were ordered by the SARS Operatives to leave or be sent to their early graves, a development which prompted them to raise the alarm and urgently called on CP Obono Nnaghe Itam for their rescue and to wade into the matter.
Elders and leaders of Ezinano community had in a petition dated September 11, 2024 to the chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC) which was copied to the Presidency, Inspector General of Police (IGP) and others, accused a senior police officer of meddling in the same land.
But reacting in a phone interview, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Tochukwu Ikenga, urged the leaders and people of Ezinano to come forward with their complaints to the police in the state.
He said, “You know the truth, you and me have been in this Anambra for many years. This particular group (Ezinano people), if they have any issue they should come straight to the command. If they have any issue, they have the numbers of the Commissioner of Police and they have my own number; if they have any issue they can come to the command and lay their complaints.”