Crime
UPDATE: New year Massacre in Omoku Rivers state
Daniel Efe/Port Harcourt
New year Massacre in Rivers state as Police Command Homicide squad sniff to nab suspects. Not lesss than 20 persons have been reportedly murdered by gunmen who went house-to-house in Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government area and other adjoining villages killing and some instances wipe out entire family.
The incident happened at about 2 am on early hours of the new year day.
Also, further reports have some of the persons killed by unknown gunmen while Coming back from church’s cross over night in Omoku and the surrounding communities in Ogbe-Egbema-Ndoni local government area in Rivers State.
Some heavily armed men between 12.10am and 1 am embarked on a shooting spree in Omoku , in the Ogba/ Egbema /Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State , killing 17 persons.
It was gathered that the victims had earlier gone to their various churches to pray into the New Year and were coming back when they were ambushed.
Other people also reportedly sustained gunshot injuries and were rushed to hospitals by other residents of the community.
Some of those killed during the mayhem were said to be four members of a family, including a man and his wife .
The incident, according to a resident of the area , who identified himself simply as Ukandu, occured at two places in the area – Omoku and Aligwu .
Ukandu said the fireworks that usually greeted the New Year made it almost impossible for residents to notice that hoodlums were shooting residents .
He said, “We were shocked to see some corpses in Aligwu and Omoku. 17 persons were killed; and some of them were shot at close range .
There were, however , conflicting reports on the number of those who sustained gunshot injuries as some put the number at 24, while others said it was about 30.
A resident of the community , Desmond , told our correspondent that the Monday’ s attack could be a reprisal from a cult.
The state Police Public Relations Officer , Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident and said the Commissioner of Police, Mr . Ahmed Zaki, had ordered a manhunt for the perpetrators of the crime.
The police spokesman added that he could not immediately speak on the number of casualties of the incident because he had yet to be told .
“I can confirm the incident, but at the moment , we cannot confirm the number of casualties. The Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations and heads of police units have been mobilised there to restore peace.
“The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Zaki, has ordered a manhunt for the hoodlums so that they can face the law.”
Omoku has been experiencing violent crimes since 2014, even as some cult members , who initially embraced the state government amnesty programme, went back to crime.
Meanwhile, the secretary of the security outfit in Onelga coded named horsepower, Mr Emeka told www.towncrier.ng that the killing was carried out by the younger brother of the most wanted militant Don Nwanee and his second in command kingdom. He also said that his security outfit killed three of the cultists in a gun duel.
The motive behind the shooting is still not known as some Facebook users took to the platform to condemn the shooting and upload the gory photos of those dead and those nursing gun shot wounds in the various hospitals.
At the time of going to the press there has not been any reaction from the Rivers State government. Several calls were put through to Emma Okah, the Commissioner for Information and Communications for his reaction the phone ran out without response.
Read Also: Breaking News: 17 Persons Killed in Omoku, Rivers State
However,concerned citizens from the troubled area have resorted to the social media platform to react to the senseless incident and upload the photo of the dead and injured.
Tragedy also struck to the family of one Port Harcourt’s best dancer known as Rokky.
He was among those who shouted “Happy New Year” at midnight only to be found dead in the morning.
He was said to be hit by a stray bullet in Abonnema, Akuku Toru LGA of Rivers State.
