Evwreni residents flee as banned Vigilante group launches fresh attack

By Ovasa Ogaga,

Many Evwreni residents in Delta State have fled their homes after a reportedly disbanded vigilante group launched a fresh attack on the community destroying properties worth millions of Naira.

This attack is coming barely 74 hours after Olorogun O’tega Emerhor led Evwreni Crises Peace Committee held a meeting with the State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as part of efforts geared towards resolving the crisis that has continued to rock the community.

As part of the efforts to resolve the crises, Olorogun Emerhor on Wednesday, led a delegation to meet with the Governor and was reported to have appealed to Governor Okowa to set up a judicial panel to look into remote causes of the crisis which has led to the killing of at least three persons in the community in recent time.

Advocate.ng gathered that against the directive of the former Delta State Police Commissioner, Hafiz Mohammed Inuwa that the Vigilante group in Evwreni Kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area should be disbanded and disarmed, the vigilante group has continued to terrorise the community.

Investigations reveal that the group has even started imposing all manners of levies on the community residents, ranging from ‘ammunition buying’ to security maintenance fees and burial levy, as defaulters are not only beaten and detained but their properties are also confiscated.

The recent attack was said to have begun on Thursday after the banned group began the collection of their levies for the month of May, shop owners were levied #2,000, while residents were asked to pay N500 per apartment. Those who could not pay had their shops and apartment locked up, an issue which led to tensions rising in the community.

Probably, in an effort to coerce the people into their biding, the group was said to have started chanting war songs, and shooting sporadically in the air, an action which led to residents fleeing the community.

Not satisfied, the disbanded Vigilante group launched an attack on some selected individuals whom they accused of sympathising with the President-General of the kingdom, his family members and supporters, who have continued to speak out against their mode of operation after the ban.

The Vigilante group, reportedly backed by the kingdom Monarch, who has allegedly refused the scrapping of the group, was said to have targeted three families whom they felt were a threat to their activities.

Chief Wilfred Utuedor, one of the victims who spoke to Advocate.ng said; “at about 2 pm on Thursday, I heard some youth chanting war songs and shooting sporadically, so I fled my home.

However, at about 2 am this morning (Friday), they stormed my house again, chanting war songs, they tried to pull my door down but they did not succeed, so, they started breaking my window glasses, shouting and saying, I should come out. At first, my wife and I hid in the bathroom and I later fled through the back door into the bush.”

Chief Utuedor said those who attacked him were led by one Kelly Waka and that he sustained some injuries as he was running for his life.

He said he first took refuge at the Anglican Church till about 4 am and from there, “I boarded a bus and left the community.

“I have gone to the A-Division, Ughelli Police Divisional Headquarters to lay complain too, so far no one has been arrested, adding that the police has refused to  bring the perpetrators to book even when they are well known.”

On why he was marked out for attack, Chief Utuedor said, he does not have issues with them, “my only crime was my support for Bright Adjogbe during the last Evwerni Clan Improvement Union election. Since then, I have been attacked repeatedly with my house and my motorcycle taken away.”

Another victim, Olotu-Rode of Evwreni Kingdom also told Advocate.ng that he had gone to bed when at about 2 am, he heard some persons banging on his door. “I opened the door and came out. I met Adolf Hitler Christopher and members of the disbanded vigilante group; they ordered me to follow them to their office.

“They accused me of supporting Adjogbe because he is building a house for me and ordered that I must pay N10,000 as a security fee and that they don’t want to see me with the Adjogbes again if I must continue to enjoy peace in the community.

“I told them that I don’t have the money they were asking for, that I am just an Okada rider, and that my bike is bad and have not been working. They said that if I don’t bring the money, I will be locked up.

“When I resisted being locked up, they forcefully pushed me into their office and locked me up from about 2:30 am till about 6 am this morning. When some community youths demanded that I should be released if not, there would be a crisis, then they let me go.”

Also narrating his ordeal, Chief Young Abodo said, “I went for a meeting at Ughelli and came back at about 6:30 pm, and suddenly gunshot ranted the air, and from what I saw, it’s was from members of the community disbanded vigilante, the king’s boys.

“I was at home at about 12:30 pm when they banged at my door, tried to forcefully open it but failed. They then started smashing all my windows glasses.

“They tried to locate where I was hiding with my wife, but didn’t see us, but after shooting gunshots into d air for a while, they left.

“So, this morning I went to the A-Division, Police Station, Ughelli to report the attack. I told the police that those who attacked me last night came with Evwreni Vigilante van.”

A senior police officer at the A-Division, Ughelli Nigeria Police headquarters, who spoke to Advocate.ng but pleaded for anonymity, confirmed the attacks and said that the victims came to the station to report the incidents and that a case file has been opened to that effect, however, no arrest has been made.