A woman, Harira Jubril, and her four children killed by yet-to-be-identified gunmen have been buried in Anambra State.
Their corpses were buried at Ugwuoba-Garriki, Amansea, on Wednesday, according to Islamic rites.
They were killed on Sunday when the gunmen invaded their community and opened fire on them.
The husband of the deceased, Jubril, told The PUNCH on Wednesday, “I am now left with no one as my pregnant wife and four children had just been buried.”
He added that his wife was already due to deliver within the week before she was killed.
He said, “My late wife and children were coming back home after she visited her sister who was living in the nearby town when she was attacked by the gunmen.
“My hope was to take their corpses to Ganye Local Government Area in Adamawa State and bury them, but we found a space in a cemetery here in Amansea and we buried them.”
Jubril said the wife was 32 years old and gave the ages of the four children as Fatima, 9; Khadijah, 7; Hadiza, 5; and Zaituna, 2.
The Seriki-Hausa Anambra, Mr. Garba Haruna, described the killing as sad and pathetic.
Haruna pointed out that the killing was not an ethnic cleansing as being insinuated in some sections, adding that those who perpetrated the act were bad boys who wanted to cause trouble and anarchy among the people.
“We just want authorities to tighten the security around the communities. It was not a targeted attack on any ethnic group as other people too were killed in the community that day,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has imposed a 6 pm to 6 am curfew on eight local government areas in the state with effect from Thursday (today).
Soludo made this known in an address in Awka on Wednesday evening.
In the address, titled, ‘Peace and security in Anambra as our collective responsibility, the governor said the move became necessary because of the deadly criminal gangs largely occupying the eight local governments.
He said, “With effect from May 26, a 6 pm to 6 am curfew is hereby placed on motorcycles (okada), tricycles (Keke), and shuttle buses in Aguata, Ihiala, Ekwusigo, Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Ogbaru, Orumba North and Orumba South Local Governments until further notice.
“Until further notice also, motorcycles, Keke, and shuttle buses are banned from operating in these local governments on Mondays until the sit-at-home completely stops. The youth of every community in the zone are hereby enjoined to assist the security agencies in the implementation of this policy and are mandated to seize any such motorcycle or tricycle on the spot.
‘‘We shall review this after two weeks, and if members of these unions continue to be involved in criminal activities, the government will have no choice but to either disband the unions and/or ban them out rightly in the state.”
Soludo also commiserated with the families of those who have been killed in the midst of the insecurity, including the beheading of a lawmaker.
The Presidency has also warned against “any knee-jerk reactions, panic, disruption of lives and livelihoods, or even retaliatory violence.”
According to a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency said it was investigating the viral videos of the alleged killings of non-indigenes by the Eastern Security Network and its mother group, Indigenous People of Biafra.
The statement, titled, ‘Presidency warns against hasty response to cruel videos now viral,’ read in part, “While expert agencies are now verifying the factuality and veracity of the claims that accompany the horrid pictures being circulated, we call on all citizens to avoid hasty steps or conclusions that could exacerbate the situation, and on the contrary keep to a line of conduct that will help the law to take its proper course.”
Also, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo described the killing of Jubril and her children as not only callous, brutal, and demeaning, but capable of creating ethnic conflict across the country and hence must be condemned by all.
According to a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo stated this while speaking with journalists shortly after meeting All Progressives Congress delegates in Makurdi, Benue State.
It said, “I think that we must be very careful, as a people, with this type of killings that are going on, especially where it is obviously to create such horror, annoyance and create a situation where we begin to have ethnic conflicts again and all that.”
Meanwhile, IPOB and Northern Elders Forum have traded words on Jubril’s killing.
IPOB said the trajectory of the perpetrators of the heinous crimes suggested that the culprits were not limited to the South-East, saying other tribes like the Fulani herdsmen are also on a rampage in Igbo land,
But NEF said South East killings had escalated to a point, which suggested that some factions of IPOB/ESN are now operating with unfettered freedom to wrought mayhem.
The head of IPOB legal team, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, and spokesperson of NEF, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said these in separate statements issued in Abuja.
While also reacting to the killings in Anambra, the Christian Association of Nigeria also condemned the killing of Jubril and demanded justice.
The organisation also called on security agencies to “fish out those responsible for the wicked act in order to stop the senseless killings in the country.”
A statement issued by the Special Assistant (Media and Communication) to the President of CAN, Adebayo Oladeji, said, “We call on the security operatives to wake up to their responsibilities. The criminals are now operating with impunity while those who are expected to stop or apprehend them appear powerless.”
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