EDITORIAL: IKA WEEKLY CALLS ON STATE GOVERNMENT TO SAVE RESIDENTS FROM INCESSANT KILLINGS BY ANIOMA SECURITY WATCH
It is now evident that Agbor community is now under severe attack from hydra-headed sources. First was the thoughtless killings of helpless and hapless Ika indigenes and residents in their farms allegedly by Fulani headmen.
As the ugly occurrence was subsiding, courtesy of collective intervention of the state government and Ika community leaders, a more devastating and heinously wicked happening is playing out. This time around, from the self-styled Anioma Security Watch operating in Agbor, the headquarters of Ika South Local Government Area of Delta state.
About a month ago, a 29 years old Joseph Philip from Ekuku-Agbor, was murdered in broad daylight by members of Anioma Security Watch over a controversial misplacement of telephone handset which was later discovered to be with the son of the accuser. But before that belated discovery, the young man accused of theft had already been murdered.
Before the dust raised by such gruesome murder could settle, another was up.
This time around, a 37-year-old man, Mr. Humphrey Odia was reportedly killed on Sunday, July 14, 2024, in same Agbor, headquarters of Ika South Local Government Area, Delta State.
Going by media reports, an elder brother to the deceased, Mr. Festus Hamilton Odia said Humphrey was innocent and that he did not do any harm to members of the vigilante group that came to his house to kill him.
Giving insight to what led to the senseless killing of his brother by the Anioma Security watch, the senior brother of the deceased said; I was in my house on that fateful Sunday afternoon when I received information about a quarrel between a vigilante guy and my brother, Humphrey. The quarrel also involved Humphrey’s friends who were with him when the said a vigilante personnel confronted them at Queen Street by Okunbor Street. This later generated into a fight and the vigilante guy ran into his girlfriend’s apartment in the area and grabbed a cutlass but was not able to use it.
“After the confrontation, Humphrey and his friends returned to our house at Queen Street by Umudein Street Lane. Shortly after their return, a vigilante group led by one Friday arrived at the place with a Sienna Bus and started chasing Humphrey’s friends with cutlass and gun. They arrested two of the boys and also, went ahead to attack Humphrey in his house. In the process, one of the vigilante members shot Humphrey on his neck at a closed range. Before, I could struggle out of my room because I have a challenge with one of my legs, to rescue the situation, Friday and his boys have killed Humphrey.
“Humphrey is not married and he was not a thief. We are yet to know the reason why he was killed by the Friday led vigilante group. They killed him, dragged his lifeless body into their Sienna Bus and zoomed off to Agbor Police Station. I rushed to the police station, unfortunately, nobody listened to me. Even till this moment, the Police has not come to our house to investigate what happened. They felt satisfied working with the fake story from Friday. Humphrey was killed like a fowl; he was not given any opportunity to explain himself. We want justice to prevail on this issue. We are appealing to government, human rights groups and concerned individuals to come to our aide”, he concluded.
What the above account plainly explains is that except something urgent is done to arrest this ongoing malady, Agbor people must be ready for more shocks from the Anioma Security Watch. This fear expressed by the Newspaper cannot be described as unfounded looking at their mode of operation.
They have little or no training in security and human relations. The character of the people recruited into the Group cannot be trusted. The process of their recruitment is not well established or made known to the people they claim to protect.
More disturbing seems to be the awareness, going by in circulation that the so-called vigilante officers that gruesomely murdered the innocent young man about one month ago has neither been handed over to police or appeared in the court of law for competent jurisdiction.
This particularly failure, if true seems to explain why such ugly incident will continue unabated. If the culprits are not punished, no lesson will be learnt and others will carry on as if nothing happened.
It is from this standpoint that Ika Weekly Newspaper calls on the State Governor, the State Commissioner of Police, Agbor traditional institutions to step in and get this drifting challenge arrested. It will also be rewarding if the identity of the people/personality behind the Group are made public and those involved in the thoughtless killings arrested and arraigned in the court of law to answer for their misdeeds.
A stitch in time, they say saves nine!