ONITSHA—An unidentified robbery suspect met his waterloo yesterday while three of his gang members escaped, when their victim allegedly knocked him down with his vehicle shortly after a robbery operation.
Eyewitnesses said the four-man robbery gang had allegedly blocked a motorist at Obosi by-pass along the Onitsha-Owerri dual carriageway and dispossessed him of all his personal effects.
The sources added that after the robbery, the victim used his vehicle to knock down one of the suspects, while the others escaped into the nearby bush.
They added that as soon as the suspect was knocked down, some passers-by held him and were taking him to the nearby Obosi police station when he gave up the ghost.
The lifeless body of the robbery suspect was in front of the police station for about an hour before it was evacuated to a nearby mortuary.
Efforts to get in touch with the Divisional Police Officer at Obosi to comment on the incident proved abortive, but the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Ali Okechukwu, said he was yet to be briefed about the incident.
ONITSHA—An unidentified robbery suspect met his waterloo yesterday while three of his gang members escaped, when their victim allegedly knocked him down with his vehicle shortly after a robbery operation.
Eyewitnesses said the four-man robbery gang had allegedly blocked a motorist at Obosi by-pass along the Onitsha-Owerri dual carriageway and dispossessed him of all his personal effects.
The sources added that after the robbery, the victim used his vehicle to knock down one of the suspects, while the others escaped into the nearby bush.
They added that as soon as the suspect was knocked down, some passers-by held him and were taking him to the nearby Obosi police station when he gave up the ghost.
The lifeless body of the robbery suspect was in front of the police station for about an hour before it was evacuated to a nearby mortuary.
Efforts to get in touch with the Divisional Police Officer at Obosi to comment on the incident proved abortive, but the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Ali Okechukwu, said he was yet to be briefed about the incident.
ONITSHA—The industrial town of Nnewi, Anambra State was thrown into mourning yesterday as an industrial Gas plant suddenly exploded killing four persons and injuring four others.
The explosion occurred at the Inter Corp Oil limited (LPG Gas Plant) a member of Chikason Group at about 11 am.
According to an eye-witness, the fire incident started when a truck was trying to discharge its contents without waiting for the mandatory cooling time. It was gathered that the tanker was discharging at a time when customers were said to be refilling their gas cylinders.
The source stated that all the customers who went to the gas plant to get a refill were allegedly burnt to ashes while some of the victims who were in the neighborhood and passers-by also got caught in the inferno. It was gathered that the rescue workers had difficulty in gaining access into the factory where majority of the victims were trapped.
The charred bodies of the victims and other badly affected burnt persons in the vicinity of the gas plant were taken to Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH, Nnewi.
All efforts made to alert the Anambra state fire service of the fire incident did not succeed until damage had been done but a fire officer, Mrs Mary Ofia defended the fire service personnel in Nnewi when she claimed that the Nnewi fire truck was vandalized by angry mob when they went for an operation at Nkpor.
Apart from lives lost to the inferno, many buildings and over fifty vehicles around the gas plant were equally affected.
In his account, one of the survivors, Ikechukwu said: “My mother was preparing pepper we wanted to use to cook tomorrow after she returned from the market, the next thing we heard was the explosion that rocked the entire vicinity.
“I ran for my life and escaped with minor injury but my mother was not lucky. She was not as fast as myself and when the fire subsided a little bit, the next thing I saw was her dead body. Look at the chicken we planned to kill tomorrow for Christmas. A similar thing happened at another residence where a woman and her daughter were lucky to remain alive after suffering some degrees of burn”.
The Vice chairman of Anambra state Red Cross, Prof Peter Katchy who headed a team of Red Cross rescue operations, said that he was extremely worried about the presence of many filling stations in residential areas in the state.
He pointed out that the situation would have been worse if the affected gas plant was situated in thickly populated areas, pointing out that the Red Cross and the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA would declare war on owners of filling stations sited at residential areas in the new year.
The leader of the Biafra Independent Movement, Ralph Uwazurike, on Thursday said some politicians were sponsoring splinter pro-Biafran agitation groups to fight him.
Nanmdi Kanu, Radio Biafra’s Director
He listed such groups to include Nnamdi Kanu’s Indigenous People of Biafra, Biafra Zionist Movement, and the Uchenna Madu-led faction of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra.
Uwazurike, who spoke at a press briefing in Onitsha, Anambra State, through the Nnewi South Regional Administrator, Tony Nwodo, alleged that the recent IPOB/MASSOB protests which claimed lives in some parts of the South-East and the South-South geopolitical zones was masterminded by the Uchenna Madu-led MASSOB. This, he said, was done to drag Uwazuruike’s name in the mud.
He said, “They were expelled members of MASSOB because of anti-MASSOB activities and they had no other option but to rush to politicians who now sponsor them to discredit me and the MASSOB members. And because they have infiltrated MASSOB through Uchenna Madu, we had to form the Biafra Independent Movement, BIM.
“People don’t know that Uchenna Madu and Nnamdi Kanu emerged to destroy the Biafra struggle for their selfish interest.
“Uchenna Madu, who announced himself as the new leader of MASSOB, lied against Uwazurike and sent members of his group to Onitsha where they joined IPOB and carried out the protests. We condemn and warn in strong terms that to use BIM to cause mayhem will be met with disaster.
“It is not through radio broadcast and on the pages of newspapers that a Biafra republic would be actualised.
“Kanu does not know that Biafra cannot be achieved through insulting and using empty threats on Radio Biafra based in London. Kanu and his cohorts do it because they are overzealous and they are without knowledge.”
Uwazurike urged the people to remain calm and abide by the non-violence approach of the struggle.
ONITSHA—No fewer than 50 persons, yesterday, sustained various degrees of injuries, while about 20 shops were destroyed, following a confrontation between some revenue collectors from Onitsha South Local Government Area and traders at the Millenium Merchants and Importers Association Markets, Main Market, Onitsha.
Trouble started when Onitsha South Local Government Area Chairman, Lady Ann Chukwuneke, allegedly stormed the market with over 100 youths to collect revenue from the traders and at the same time clamp down on street trading in the area.
A source said the council officials started dismantling some of the shops, which did not go down well with the traders.
This, it was learned, resulted in a free-for-all between the traders and revenue collectors, following which over 50 persons sustained injuries.
Among those reportedly injured were the Vice Chairman of the market, Prince Peter Okoye and Obiora Otigba.
The traders began to protest, with placards bearing inscriptions such as “The council chairman is not a good mother,” “Governor Obiano should remove her,” “We have lost huge sums of money to hoodlums.”
Governor intervenes
Reacting to the development, the President of Anambra State Markets Amalgamation Traders Association, AMATAS, Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, said the council chairman had no right to storm the market and destroy the wares of the traders, some of who, he said, lost huge sums of money to hoodlums.
He said: “The governor directed me to come and calm the traders and to reopen their shops, that he is looking into the crisis. I am happy the governor is aware because he does not want crisis in the state.”
Market’s Chairman reacts
Earlier, the chairman of the market, Mr. Valentine Ezechukwu, and former chairman, Chief Obiora Nwankwo, described the action of the council boss as uncalled for, adding that they had earlier discussed with the chairman on the way forward for the market and wondered why she stormed the market without notice.
They said: “We gave a token to the council, yet they stormed the market demanding N50,000 per shop.”
Three traders, Uche Okolie, John Achukwu, from Warri and one Joseph claimed to have lost N 2.5 million, N360,000 and N 100,000, respectively, to the hoodlums.
The timely intervention of the Onitsha Police Area Commander, Mr. Benjamin Wordu, saved the situation from escalating to other markets.
