5 Women Beheaded, 3 Missing in Ebonyi/C'River Renewed Boundary Dispute

No fewer than five indigenes of Itim-Amagu in Ikwo council area of Ebonyi State were allegedly beheaded on Thursday by the people of Adadama community in Cross River State in a renewed boundary dispute between the two communities.

Already, the beheaded bodies of the victims have been recovered while three persons have been declared missing by the residents of the area.

Confirming the incident to newsmen, the Chairman of Ikwo Local Government Area, Mr John Nnabo, said his Vice-Chairman told him about the incident on Thursday morning.


He said that the victims had gone to the area to harvest their cassava and other food crops given that it had been long there was exchange of gunfire or any sign of danger in the area, only to be surrounded by the armed men from Adadama.

Nnabo lamented that the problem has persisted because the Adadama people would always cross the river boundary to the side of Ebonyi state to humiliate them.

“I was called on Thursday morning by my Vice Chairman. Five women were killed and beheaded. We have recovered their corpses. Three persons are still missing. Our people went to uproot their cassava and other crops thinking that the war has subsided without gunshots for a long time.

“As they were in the farm, the Adadama people surrounded them, killed and beheaded them. They will always cross the river to humiliate us” he lamented. Meanwhile, a stakeholder in Ikwo and National Coordinator of Buhari/Osibanjo Initiative for Demonstrating Change, Chinedu Ogah, has called on the Federal Government and the National Boundary Commission to quickly take urgent steps to delineate the boundary to forestall further loss of lives and property in the area.

In another development, the Ebonyi State Police Command, yesterday, confirmed the escape of a kidnap suspect, one Mr Ogonna alias Pilot who allegedly participated in the kidnap and killing of a 58-year-old woman, Mrs Catherine Okorie Chukwu.

Catherine hailed from Ishiagu community in Ivo council area of Ebonyi State and was kidnapped at her residence on January 18, 2017. Her abductors killed her four days later and buried her in a shallow grave located in a forest bordering Lokpanta in Umunneochi and Awgu council areas of Abia and Enugu States respectively, for reportedly recognizing one of her abductors.

This confirmation was made by the state’s Commissioner of Police, Titus Lamorde during a press briefing in his office in Abakaliki. The CP said that the escape of the suspect, Pilot, and three others was as a result of negligence of five police officers on duty on the night of their escape.

“Unfortunately and sadly enough, on the night of Saturday/Sunday, that is October 21 and 22, the people when they were in the cell between 2am and 3am because of negligence of those on duty, four suspects escaped including the Pilot who is a principal suspect in the kidnap of the late Mrs Okorie. There were five policemen on duty” he said.


-The Sun News