A yet-to-be-identified police officer has been reported dead during clashes between the law enforcement officers and gunmen inside Oba Police Divisional Headquarters in Anambra State.
The police corporal, as gathered, was protecting the station from the attackers during the clash in Idemili South Local Government Area
Eyewitnesses narrated that aside from the deceased policeman, his colleagues sustained varying degrees of injuries during the attack that lasted for several minutes.
Aside from the police station, they narrated that the gunmen attacked the Oba Civic Centre, although the reason for the actions on Tuesday was unknown.
The attack, meanwhile, coincided with a declaration by a secessionist leader, Simon Ekpa, who called for a month-long hostility against government establishments in the South-East, starting from August 28, 2024.
The Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, who confirmed the incident in a statement said, a joint security force comprising the Army, Navy, Civil Defence, and other agencies are currently conducting a joint operation in Oba and its environs.
He said the suspected armed secessionist group shot sporadically and threw petrol bombs, causing fires in some offices and the civic centre.
The PPRO’s statement read in part,”The Police-led Joint Security Force comprising the Army, Navy, Civil defence and other security agencies are currently in a joint on-slaught operation within Oba and its environments.
“Following, an attack in the early hours of today 3/9/2024 on Oba Police Divisional Headquarters and Oba Civic Centre. The suspected armed successionist group started shooting sporadically in an attempt to gain entrance to the Police Station and threw petrol bombs at the security facility which made some of the offices catch up with fire including the Oba Civic Centre
“Unfortunately, a police corporal who was fatally wounded paid the supreme price, while the fire was put out with the help of other police officers on duty and the Joint Security responding team.
“The Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Obono Itam, while condemning the act, described the invasion of security facilities and hostility towards security agents as an attack on the soul of a nation and vows to bring those behind the unholy act to book.”
