The is tension at Okwu Uratta community in the Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo state as youths of the area have staged a protest over the death of a resident of the community identified as Mr. Friday Njoku.
According to a source in the community, the deceased was allegedly killed by the vigilantee group operating in the community.
An indigene of the community who does not want to be mentioned said the community youth accused Mr. Emmanuel Abakporo who is the leader of the vigilante group and also an officer of the state command of the Nigeria Correctional Service of allegedly supervising the killing of Njoku.
The source said “our community is on fire. The youths are on rampage. A young man by name Friday Njoku was killed on Sunday and his body dumped there. People saw that it was the security people in the community that shot him dead.
“On Tuesday morning, the youths grouped and stormed the house of the leader of the security men but met his absence. They beat his son to stupor and went to his wife’s shop and destroyed everything there. They returned to his house and set it ablaze.
“But as I speak to you, policemen have arrived in the area and doing everything possible to restore normalcy. The leader of the vigilante group members is an officer of the Nigeria Correctional Service. He works at the state command headquarters. The family of the victim is demanding justice. The youths of the community are demanding justice.”
However, when contacted, the spokesperson for the police in the state, Henry Okoye, said that the state commissioner of police, Danjuma Aboki, had sent men to the scene for a rescue mission.