Soldiers attached to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu State, engaged in a fierce gun battle with the neighborhood watch group in Eke community, Udi Local Government Area of the state.
OsunDailyNG learnt that a man and his wife were allegedly shot dead while one of the members, identified as Chinedu Okolo had his penis completely shattered.
Other members of the local security network who survived the attack are reportedly in critical condition in an undisclosed hospital.
The Assistant Chief Security Officer of Eke Security Neighbourhood Vigilante Watch, Emeka Anigbo, who also sustained several gunshot injuries, in an interview with journalists, said the incident happened on Thursday night when they were at the 9th Mile Corner.
Anigbo said they had gone to felicitate with their colleagues who were being inaugurated as neighborhood watch members when they received a distress call that armed robbers blocked the major road leading to the popular Catholic Church Prayer Center (Ugwudinso) and Eke, from Ama breweries.
According to him, on receiving the call, they abandoned the food and drinks they were about to eat and swiftly drove out to confront the criminal elements, however, they could not get to the scene with their vehicles due to the heavy gridlock on the road.
He said, “We decided to park our vehicle along the road and started moving towards the place; while approaching the scene, we figured three armed soldiers who ordered us in a loud voice to stop.
“We obeyed the soldiers and stopped, telling them that we were neighborhood watch members. At that point, they then asked us to keep coming.
“On approaching where the soldiers were standing, they started firing at us, killing one of our members and the wife of one of those who were inaugurated at 9th Mile. She was on a motorcycle with her husband going back to Eke.
“Despite the fact that we were in our full security uniform and had identified ourselves, the trigger-happy soldiers opened fire on us at a very close range, killing the late Oke, and the woman.
“After shooting me severally, while I was on the ground, one of the soldiers still, notwithstanding seeing my ID card and my uniform, went ahead to shoot me again on the shoulder.
“The same soldier kept on matching me on the chest, saying, I will kill you today.
“In fact, it was the timely arrival of police operatives from the 9th Mile corner that saved my life. It was the police that stopped the soldier, confirming that we are Eke neighborhood security guards.”
Speaking with DAILY POST, the Deputy Director, of Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Lieutenant Colonel Jonah Unuakhalu, described the narratives of the victims as untrue.
Unuakhalu said the deceased woman was killed by a stray bullet from armed hoodlums who engaged the soldiers in a shootout.
He stated that the troops received a distress call that some criminal elements were operating along the Eke road, and they immediately rushed to the scene.
He added that on sighting the soldiers, the hoodlums opened fire on them, but the security operatives overpowered them, leading to the arrest of one of them, and recovering of two pump action guns and some live bullets after some ran into a nearby bush.
He said, “So, there is no iota of truth in the information being peddled around that it was soldiers that killed the deceased.
“Our men only rushed to the scene to salvage the situation, after receiving a distress call.
“It’s unfortunate that the woman died, if not, she would have been in the best position to narrate exactly what happened.”
He stressed that the Division is going to carry out proper investigation on the incident, so as to unravel what actually transpired.
