By Emeka iheanyi
In what appeared like a coordinated offensive, armed hoodlums have again attacked a human rights activist, Mr Gerald Nnamdi Okosi, in Enugu community.
The incident reportedly occurred while Mr Okosi was holding a meeting with the youths of Ugwuaji community in the evening of Sunday February 6, 2022.
It was gathered that the assembly was proceeding smoothly when the unknown assailants suddenly stormed the scene and started shooting sporadically in the air thereby forcing everyone to scamper for safety.
Eyewitness account noted that the rights activist was lucky to escape being killed by the hooded hoodlums numbering about five and dressed in all black costumes.
In an interview with our correspondent, one of the youths, Johnson Edeh, said that nearly a dozen people sustained various degrees of injury during the attack.
He further informed that the attackers were armed to the teeth, adding that as they fired gun shots they were shouting Mr Gerald’s name and vowing to find him and kill him.
“They were about five hooded men and they drove in a black sports utility vehicle (SUV).
“It was obvious that Mr Gerald was their main target as they repeatedly shouted his name vowing that he must pay with his life for refusing to seal his mouth.
“But luckily, they could not identify him immediately and Mr Gerald managed to escape. However, we have neither seen him nor heard from him since then”, Mr Edeh narrated.
Another youth, Chinedu Ochebe, who was not as lucky, alleged that he received machete cuts from the assailants.
He corroborated Mr Edeh’s account, in an interview with our correspondent on his hospital bed, stressing that several other people also sustained various degrees of wounds during the mayhem, especially while running for dear lives.
He said: “The unknown attackers became enraged when they discovered that Mr Gerald had escaped. They went haywire and started destroying everything and attempted to raze the man’s house.
“But some gallant youths later regrouped and surged forth to challenge them.
“The youths in turn started smashing the attackers’ vehicle. They were trying to set it ablaze when the armed men dispersed the emboldened youths with more gunshots, jumped into their vehicle and zoomed off”.
When our team visited the scene, shock and apprehension still pervaded the community, as a result of the deadly invasion by the yet-to-be determined criminals.
It would be recalled that Mr. Gerald was kidnapped on April 4, 2020, after nearly paying the supreme price with his life on several other occasions over his reported persistent war against kidnapping, raping of innocent women as well as occupation and destruction of farmlands by Fulani herdsmen in Igbo land, South East of Nigeria.
Our correspondent also gathered that since the latest attack on Mr Gerald, his relatives have been living in fear and uncertainty as no one has a clue about his whereabouts.
Efforts to reach the Enugu Police Command to speak on the matter proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), of the command, Daniel Ndukwe, was unavailable for comment. He did not also reply the text message that our correspondent forwarded to his MTN phone number to that effect.
