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Violence Rages in Onitsha

Daily Trust (Abuja)
NEWS
February 23, 2006
Posted to the web February 23, 2006

By Suleiman Mohammed

The reprisal attack on northerners resident in Onitsha, Anambra State, was
yesterday intensified by hoodlums who stormed the Onitsha central prisons and
set free all inmates as unconfirmed reports indicated that over 100 people were
killed.
The attack which started Monday followed the movement of dead bodies of victims
of the Maiduguri riots to Onitsha for burial by their relations.
Though efforts to contact the Anambra state government officials proved
abortive, the state's police commissioner, Mr. Moses Anegbode, confirmed that
the situation was alarming despite the curfew imposed on the city.
"We are doing our best to curtail the situation. People have taken refuge at
police and military barracks and we will ensure that sanity is restored in the
city," he said.
He could not however, confirm the exact number of deaths recorded so far.
But a BBC (English) service report monitored in Lagos revealed that several
corpses littered the streets of Onitsha, while many were left with serious
injuries and taken to the General Hospital for treatment. The report revealed
that hoodlums stormed the Onitsha central prisons chanting war songs and forced
the gate open while escaping prisoners were said to have also joined the
attacks on northerners.
"We are living in perpetual fear of what will happen next as those of us who
took refuge in military barracks are not safe enough from attacks," declared
Mallam Umar Usman, who told the BBC that he lost three children.
Similarly, the hoodlums reportedly stormed the General Hospital, Onitsha and
attacked victims who are receiving treatment and forced medical personnel to
abandon the hospital.
According to the state governor, Chris Ngige, in a broadcast, all efforts would
be made to return peace to Onitsha which he described as the commercial nerve
centre of the South-East.
He also charged security personnel to live up to expectations by ensuring that
the lives of those living in military and police barracks are safe.
Meanwhile, the curfew imposed on Onitsha is expected to commence between 7a.m
and 6a.m, while mobile policemen have been directed to arrest any person found
within the stipulated period.
Revenge attacks against Muslims killed at least 20 people in the southeastern
Nigerian city of Onitsha on Wednesday after days of anti-Christian violence
killed dozens in the north.
The slaughter raised the death toll from five days of religious riots fueled by
political tensions in the country to at least 66 and possibly many more.
"There are thousands of boys with cutlasses and sticks on the rampage. I've
counted at least 20 bodies here by the Onitsha bridge. They are Hausas. Some of
them are burnt and some have their stomachs cut open," said Reuters
photographer, George Esiri.
A doctor at the Onitsha General Hospital said more than 50 newly injured people
had been brought in on Wednesday while the Red Cross said 325 people were
injured and 2,000 displaced on Tuesday.

   

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