There was tension at Oruku Community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State as gunmen on Saturday killed the President-General of the Town Union, Chief Linus Nwatu.
His murder made it the eight prominent residents of the community that have been killed by gunmen suspected to be cultists. The gunmen were allegedly used during a communal war with neighbouring community, Umuode.
A community source said that Chief Nwatu, a retired police officer, was shot dead in the early morning of Saturday by gunmen who broke into his house where he resided with his family members after his retirement from Nigeria Police some years back.
The source regretted that the President-General was killed on a day that the community had scheduled to bury a member of the town’s neighbourhood watch, Mr. Dennis Ike (a.k.a Peace), who was shot dead by gunmen in the town on June 6, 2022.
According to Vanguard, it was learnt that the gunmen allegedly ambushed and killed Ike, who was riding motorcycle at the time.
The hoodlums had after killing him set his corpse and motorbike ablaze before proceeding to torch houses of some persons in the community that fateful day.
A Community source told our correspondent that the gunmen, apparently on a mission to foil the burial of the slain Ike slated for today (Saturday), stormed the compound of the president-general (Nwatu) and murdered him in cold-blood.
A source, who pleaded for anonymity, said the attack on Nwatu was not unconnected with his role in the lingering communal conflict in Oruku, which the Enugu state government has failed to resolve over the years.
The traditional ruler of Oruku community, Igwe Emmanuel Mbah and several natives had been murdered by hoodlums loyal to a faction in the communal dispute from December 2020 till date. The traditional ruler was assassinated on December 26, 2020 and his killers are yet to be brought to book.
The assassination later sparked a disorder that caused destruction of lives and property in the community prompting Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to institute a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate Mbah’s killing.
The murdered Town Union President, Chief Nwatu, had allegedly while testifying before the commission that “23 collaborators and sponsors were fueling cult activities in Oruku” to destroy lives and property.
He had urged the commission headed by Justice Harold Eya to look into the names listed in his memorandum as the masterminds of Oruku crisis and bring them to book.