Emotions ran high over the weekend at the Light House, Awka, when people of Lilu, one of the communities in Ihiala Council area of Anambra State overrun by gunmen, besieged the Anambra Government House to seek an end to the massacre of their kinsmen by gunmen.
Youths, elderly men and women from the community, during the protest, maintained straight faces which they claimed was indicative of the urgency and seriousness of their mission.
They bore placards with inscriptions such as ’Soludo rescue us’, ‘Lilu is on the verge of extinction,’ ‘Is Lilu actually in Anambra State’, among others.
TNC had reported how gunmen had invade a church in the community, killed the priest’s wife and set buildings and vehicles ablaze.
The spokesperson of the protesters, who gave his name simply as Emeka, said for security reasons, he had to abandon the burial of two of their kinsmen halfway when news got to them that two others who sustained severe matchet cuts in last Sunday’s attack have died where they were receiving treatment.
Emeka, who briefed the Secretary to the Anambra State Government (SSG), Solo Chukwulobelu on their travail, stated that the brutal gun attacks began some years ago.
“In our first ugly experience, eleven of our kinsmen were killed, while nine persons lost their lives in the last Sunday’s massacre.
“So far, 20 citizens have lost their lives in the recent orgy of killing spree. These people even took some away, telling them that they were going to sacrifice them to their gods,” he narrated.
While calling on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to come to their immediate assistance, the people lamented that everyday remains a struggle for them as they either get kidnapped, slaughtered or just disappeared without trace.
He bemoaned a situation where about eighty-five percent of the whole community now live in exile in neighboring communities, revealing that there was no household in Lilu that has no member who has been savagely murdered.
The palace of their traditional ruler, Igwe Godson Onyediri, in its comments, appealed to the governor for quick assistance, describing the savage murder and decapitation of Venerable Gabriel Obiesie’s wife, who was burnt alongside the St Andrew’s Anglican church parsonage and their children, cars and entire property as sacrilegious, inhuman and an abomination.
Responding, the SSG, Prof Chukwulobelu, while acknowledging their peaceful disposition even in the face of intense provocation, appealed for their continuous understanding, adding that the governor was aware of their challenges and is on top of the matter.
The SSG admitted that the governor was not relenting in efforts to secure a lasting peace in Lilu and other trouble spots in parts of the state.
He collected all their placards, promising to present their matter to the governor later in the day.
