Vigilante, police in shootout after mistaking themselves for pro-Biafra gunmen

There was a mild drama on Wednesday in Anambra State when a local vigilante group and a police team opened fire at each other after mistaking themselves for pro-Biafra gunmen.

The incident happened around 7 p.m. at Izuchukwu Junction along Nnobi-Nnewi Road in Nnewi North Local Government Area of the state, residents told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday night.

The scene of the incident is close to Otolo Nnewi, the hometown of Ifeanyi Ubah, the deceased Nigerian senator, billed to be buried on Friday.

Some residents who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday night said they thought pro-Biafra gunmen who had threatened to resist the burial of the senator were in the shootout with police operatives.

One of the residents, who witnessed the incident, but asked not to be named, said two passers-by hit by stray bullets were feared dead during the encounter.

“A Toyota Venza vehicle parked nearby caught fire during the incident and burnt to ashes,” another resident, Charles Okoli, said.

Mr Okoli could not say if the operatives set the vehicle ablaze during the shootout.

Police speak

The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident in a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday night.

Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said the local security operatives “mistook the police operatives as unfriendly forces and opened fire at them.”

The police spokesperson maintained that the “attack on the operatives was not from non-state actors or any attempt to disrupt the burial of late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.”

“Preliminary information shows that security operatives on investigation trailed a suspect to a security checkpoint before the gun duel ensued.

“Unfortunately, bullets hit the fuel tank of the Toyota Venza Sedan carrying the men, and it was razed down,” he said.

“Two innocent passers-by were injured and taken to hospital.”

Mr Ikenga said a joint security team had been deployed to ensure Nnewi is calm for the burial ceremony of the late senator.

Not the first time

This is not the first security operatives would be mistaking themselves for pro-Biafra gunmen in the South-east.

In August this year, two police teams in Abia State exchanged gunfire after mistaking themselves for members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

A truck driver, Chinedu Ukwu, died after he was hit by a stray bullet during the shootout between the two police teams which occurred in Alaoji Area of Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State.

IPOB, a group seeking secession of the south-east and some parts of the south-south from Nigeria, has been linked to deadly attacks in the two regions.

But the separatist group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.