Soldiers saw my dying wife in my arms, zoomed off, bereaved husband laments
urvivors relive Rivers new year day killings …Shattering phone call from daughter, ‘Mama, they have shot me. I am dying’.
OMOKU, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni (ONELGA) Local Government Area, is high on the list of fratricidal wars that Rivers State is notorious for. Notwithstanding the history of violence in ONELGA, nobody could have imagined heartless killers picking the night of the crossover to the new year to attack residents returning from Church after the crossover service.
Bright Nwokocha lost his wife The murderous visitors were also least expected following the momentary peace that had pervaded ONELGA after the local vigilante group, ONELGA Security, Peace and Advisory Committee, OSPAC, launched an offensive, in collaboration with the military, against suspected terrorist, Chief Igwedibia Johnson, a.k.a Don Wanny. An OSPAC members, who pleaded anonymity, said, “They opened fire on anyone in sight. “The shooting started at Aligu, Don Wanny’s home community, on the outskirts of Omoku, before the attackers moved into the main town. By the time the dust settled and they disappeared, bodies were lying everywhere.
Early reports pointing to two shooting scenes missed the incident. It was a rampage and several people died.” Some residents, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard pointed fingers at Dan Wanny as the mastermind of the attack while another OSPAC member said, “We chased Don Wanny and his gang away back in November and the military occupied his home to claim glory over our efforts. We believe he died in that encounter, but his boys have been gearing for reprisal •Mrs. Gold Ordu lost daughter, grandson “That reprisal was what they came for on the crossover night. They came to falsely prove that their reign of terror is unassailable even with the sack of their leader and the presence of OSPAC. The mindless attack was to rubbish OSPAC and punish residents for allegedly jubilation widely when unconfirmed news came that Don Wanny died in the November invasion of his Aligu country home.” Don Waney, installed the Oyirimba 1 of Ogbaland by the paramount ruler of Aligwu, King C. Nwokocha, in December 2016, had been described by the military as “a notorious kidnapped, militant, cultist, ardent illegal oil, bunkerer”, but neither the military nor the police confirmed the community’s suspicion on Don Wanny’s probable death or his hand in the new year day massacre. Before turning a wanted man, he had mobilized his men to stage a dramatic surrender of weapons in a Governor Nyesom Wike guaranteed amnesty, claiming he had renounced crime and violence in exchange for government empowerment. Little Success lost mother brother and nursing gunshot wounds But soon thereafter, Don Wanny, on November 19, 2017, allegedly murdered three members of OSPAC, prompting the vigilante
group’s next day raid which chased him and his gang into hiding. 10 human skulls and three fresh corpses were said to have been discovered in his home during the raid. “Wike at one time demolished the houses of suspected cultists allegedly supporting APC. Now Don Wanny is unleashing terror on ONELGA people. Why hasn’t Wike ordered the burning and demolition of his property? Why?”, an angry resident asked rhetorically. But Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, giving a situation report, on Thursday, on the attack, said, “We are investigating and our findings will be made public. Anybody or group closely or remotely connected to the incident, no matter how highly placed, will face the law. “We have increased our presence in ONELGA and environs. We have restored normalcy and there will not be a repeat of this sad incident”. Meanwhile,the attack has left scars on survivors and relatives of the dead who have different tales to tell. Soldiers saw my wife dying in my arms, zoomed off -Bereaved husband Bright Nwokocha, one of those bereaved as a result of the assault, told Sunday Vanguard that Joy, his wife, whose life was cut short by the gunmen, could have been alive if soldiers who met her bleeding to death didn’t turn blind eye. Nwokocha, 34, lamented at his Lucky Ojobo Street residence that that the wife, from Isoko in Delta State, was shot by the assailants while returning from the crossover service with their three children on motorbike. He said, “I read in the paper that there were two shooting scenes. There were more. The bloodsuckers were on the rampage. They met my wife and children close to our home. I had advised that they stay at home and watch the crossover service on TV, but she insisted on going to church with the children. “I went out and came back home before them, called them and they said they were home bound some minutes past midnight as we entered the new year. Minuted later, I called to know how close they were, but there was no response. “The next minute, I head booming sounds of shooting close to the house. My second daughter rushed in shouting, ‘Daddy, daddy, come, some people are shooting knockout. Mummy is sleeping there. Mercy Ogadinma lost both parents “I rushed to the scene and saw my wife on the street road in a pool of blood. Our small child, about four years old, shot in the buttocks too, was screaming. Neighbors who could help ran into hiding out of fear. “I held my wife, confused on what to do to save her. Then an army van came in. I raised my hands up, shouting, ‘Don’t kill me oo. My wife and daughter have been shot on their way from new year eve service. Please help me. “The soldiers peeped from the vehicle. One muttered some words and they zoomed off, leaving my wife dying in my arms. It was too late when help finally came from a neighbor who volunteered to take my wife and shot daughter to huspital in his car. My wife was pronounced dead at the hospital”. Shattering phone call from daughter, ‘Mama, they have shot me. I am dying’. In the case of Madam Gold Ordu, 72, her new year day was shattered following a phone call from her dying daughter, Jennifer Ohia, 38, who was shot alongside her son, Innocent Ohia, 14. Success, her daughter who survived the shooting, is critically ill in hospital. Ordu, speaking in her Ordu Quarters home, told Sunday Vanguard, “They (victims) were all around and attended the crossover service with us uptown at the Deeper Life Church. They then left trekking to their home in Aligu”. “We were jolted by shouting and people running from the direction my daughter was headed with her children. The running residents shouting said some gunmen had shot into a crowd of trekkers in Aligu. “My daughter called shortly, talking faintly, ‘Mama, they have shot me. I am dying’. We tried rushing down, but we were warned not to go in the dead of the night. We waited and left at dawn. There they were, my daughter and her son, dead. Success was shot on the leg; only Amaka, the eldest daughter, was unhurt.” “We have since taken the bodies and buried in the plot they acquired when her husband was still alive. Success is being treated at an Omoku hospital. The governor (Wike) visited and promised to pay the hospital bills and assist us.” At the Castle Clinic, Omoku, where little Success was being treated, Sunday Vanguard met another baby, Mercy Ogadinma, 7, in pains from gunshots; her left leg in POP from toes to waist from the impact at yet another shooting scene at Kringine Road, Omoku. Godday ThanksGod, direct brother of Mercy’s mother, said, “My sister, Oyi Ogadinma, and her husband, Nwakaego Ogadinma, were both killed in that shooting, leaving Mercy an orphan. It’s hard to recount this experience.” Paramount ruler overwhelmed by body count Paramount ruler of Oboburu, Egi land Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Rivers State, Eze S U Omarize, whose son, Saviour, was among the dead distanced his son from cultism. “I counted over twenty bodies where my son was shot”, he narrated. “I never knew such unfortunate incident will happen to me. My son was coming back from church when the killers opened fire on him. Over 20 corpses were lying there when I got there. My son was a good Christian, we do not know what led to this killing. He was killed with his friend. My son was not a cultist”, the monarch lamented.
urvivors relive Rivers new year day killings …Shattering phone call from daughter, ‘Mama, they have shot me. I am dying’.
OMOKU, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni (ONELGA) Local Government Area, is high on the list of fratricidal wars that Rivers State is notorious for. Notwithstanding the history of violence in ONELGA, nobody could have imagined heartless killers picking the night of the crossover to the new year to attack residents returning from Church after the crossover service.
Bright Nwokocha lost his wife The murderous visitors were also least expected following the momentary peace that had pervaded ONELGA after the local vigilante group, ONELGA Security, Peace and Advisory Committee, OSPAC, launched an offensive, in collaboration with the military, against suspected terrorist, Chief Igwedibia Johnson, a.k.a Don Wanny. An OSPAC members, who pleaded anonymity, said, “They opened fire on anyone in sight. “The shooting started at Aligu, Don Wanny’s home community, on the outskirts of Omoku, before the attackers moved into the main town. By the time the dust settled and they disappeared, bodies were lying everywhere.
Early reports pointing to two shooting scenes missed the incident. It was a rampage and several people died.” Some residents, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard pointed fingers at Dan Wanny as the mastermind of the attack while another OSPAC member said, “We chased Don Wanny and his gang away back in November and the military occupied his home to claim glory over our efforts. We believe he died in that encounter, but his boys have been gearing for reprisal •Mrs. Gold Ordu lost daughter, grandson “That reprisal was what they came for on the crossover night. They came to falsely prove that their reign of terror is unassailable even with the sack of their leader and the presence of OSPAC. The mindless attack was to rubbish OSPAC and punish residents for allegedly jubilation widely when unconfirmed news came that Don Wanny died in the November invasion of his Aligu country home.” Don Waney, installed the Oyirimba 1 of Ogbaland by the paramount ruler of Aligwu, King C. Nwokocha, in December 2016, had been described by the military as “a notorious kidnapped, militant, cultist, ardent illegal oil, bunkerer”, but neither the military nor the police confirmed the community’s suspicion on Don Wanny’s probable death or his hand in the new year day massacre. Before turning a wanted man, he had mobilized his men to stage a dramatic surrender of weapons in a Governor Nyesom Wike guaranteed amnesty, claiming he had renounced crime and violence in exchange for government empowerment. Little Success lost mother brother and nursing gunshot wounds But soon thereafter, Don Wanny, on November 19, 2017, allegedly murdered three members of OSPAC, prompting the vigilante
group’s next day raid which chased him and his gang into hiding. 10 human skulls and three fresh corpses were said to have been discovered in his home during the raid. “Wike at one time demolished the houses of suspected cultists allegedly supporting APC. Now Don Wanny is unleashing terror on ONELGA people. Why hasn’t Wike ordered the burning and demolition of his property? Why?”, an angry resident asked rhetorically. But Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, giving a situation report, on Thursday, on the attack, said, “We are investigating and our findings will be made public. Anybody or group closely or remotely connected to the incident, no matter how highly placed, will face the law. “We have increased our presence in ONELGA and environs. We have restored normalcy and there will not be a repeat of this sad incident”. Meanwhile,the attack has left scars on survivors and relatives of the dead who have different tales to tell. Soldiers saw my wife dying in my arms, zoomed off -Bereaved husband Bright Nwokocha, one of those bereaved as a result of the assault, told Sunday Vanguard that Joy, his wife, whose life was cut short by the gunmen, could have been alive if soldiers who met her bleeding to death didn’t turn blind eye. Nwokocha, 34, lamented at his Lucky Ojobo Street residence that that the wife, from Isoko in Delta State, was shot by the assailants while returning from the crossover service with their three children on motorbike. He said, “I read in the paper that there were two shooting scenes. There were more. The bloodsuckers were on the rampage. They met my wife and children close to our home. I had advised that they stay at home and watch the crossover service on TV, but she insisted on going to church with the children. “I went out and came back home before them, called them and they said they were home bound some minutes past midnight as we entered the new year. Minuted later, I called to know how close they were, but there was no response. “The next minute, I head booming sounds of shooting close to the house. My second daughter rushed in shouting, ‘Daddy, daddy, come, some people are shooting knockout. Mummy is sleeping there. Mercy Ogadinma lost both parents “I rushed to the scene and saw my wife on the street road in a pool of blood. Our small child, about four years old, shot in the buttocks too, was screaming. Neighbors who could help ran into hiding out of fear. “I held my wife, confused on what to do to save her. Then an army van came in. I raised my hands up, shouting, ‘Don’t kill me oo. My wife and daughter have been shot on their way from new year eve service. Please help me. “The soldiers peeped from the vehicle. One muttered some words and they zoomed off, leaving my wife dying in my arms. It was too late when help finally came from a neighbor who volunteered to take my wife and shot daughter to huspital in his car. My wife was pronounced dead at the hospital”. Shattering phone call from daughter, ‘Mama, they have shot me. I am dying’. In the case of Madam Gold Ordu, 72, her new year day was shattered following a phone call from her dying daughter, Jennifer Ohia, 38, who was shot alongside her son, Innocent Ohia, 14. Success, her daughter who survived the shooting, is critically ill in hospital. Ordu, speaking in her Ordu Quarters home, told Sunday Vanguard, “They (victims) were all around and attended the crossover service with us uptown at the Deeper Life Church. They then left trekking to their home in Aligu”. “We were jolted by shouting and people running from the direction my daughter was headed with her children. The running residents shouting said some gunmen had shot into a crowd of trekkers in Aligu. “My daughter called shortly, talking faintly, ‘Mama, they have shot me. I am dying’. We tried rushing down, but we were warned not to go in the dead of the night. We waited and left at dawn. There they were, my daughter and her son, dead. Success was shot on the leg; only Amaka, the eldest daughter, was unhurt.” “We have since taken the bodies and buried in the plot they acquired when her husband was still alive. Success is being treated at an Omoku hospital. The governor (Wike) visited and promised to pay the hospital bills and assist us.” At the Castle Clinic, Omoku, where little Success was being treated, Sunday Vanguard met another baby, Mercy Ogadinma, 7, in pains from gunshots; her left leg in POP from toes to waist from the impact at yet another shooting scene at Kringine Road, Omoku. Godday ThanksGod, direct brother of Mercy’s mother, said, “My sister, Oyi Ogadinma, and her husband, Nwakaego Ogadinma, were both killed in that shooting, leaving Mercy an orphan. It’s hard to recount this experience.” Paramount ruler overwhelmed by body count Paramount ruler of Oboburu, Egi land Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Rivers State, Eze S U Omarize, whose son, Saviour, was among the dead distanced his son from cultism. “I counted over twenty bodies where my son was shot”, he narrated. “I never knew such unfortunate incident will happen to me. My son was coming back from church when the killers opened fire on him. Over 20 corpses were lying there when I got there. My son was a good Christian, we do not know what led to this killing. He was killed with his friend. My son was not a cultist”, the monarch lamented.
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