Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has petitioned the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, Commandant Nkwegu Military Cantonment in Abakaliki, Director General of the Department of State Service, and Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi State over military aggression in Amasiri, Afikpo in Ebonyi State.
Amasiri and Oso Edda communities have been at war following a clash over ancestral lands.
The attack, which targeted Ama-iyime and Ozara-Okangwu of Amasiri, saw several properties worth millions of naira burnt while several other valuables were also looted in the process.
Last week, military personnel had stormed the Amasiri community in large numbers over the clash between both communities.
However, Idam lamented that the military incursion brought about brutality while aggression reigned freely against the Amasiri community.
The petition, titled “Re-Emergence of Military Invasion, Brutality, and Aggression Reign Freely Against My Community, Amasiri,” reads:
“The above subject refers.
“As a civil rights and public interest lawyer of Amasiri indigene, I write in pensive but helpless emotion to yet again draw the attention of well-meaning Nigerians and the authorities to the above subject matter, yearning for urgent intervention.
“The crisis between Oso Edda and Amasiri in Ebonyi State, which has regrettably occasioned the loss of several lives and properties, has continued to pose tension, hostility, and anxiety among the two neighbouring communities (Oso Edda and Amasiri) in Ebonyi State, despite efforts by Amasiri indigenes to pursue amicable settlement options only in resolving the matter, even in the face of provocations.
“Quite disturbing is that on 11th April 2025, the stakeholders of Amasiri, in pursuance of their resolve to seek a peaceful alternative to the resolution of the conflicting issues with their Oso Edda neighbour, attended a peace committee set up by the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State, following an invitation for that purpose, which was also attended by several other stakeholders in the old Afikpo Zone.
“Unfortunately, the Oso Edda neighbouring community refused, ignored, and completely rebuffed the invitation to attend the peace committee and instead seized the opportunity to again embark on another round of attacks against certain communities in Amasiri while her stakeholders were away in Abakaliki seeking a peaceable settlement to the conflicting issues.
“An incident that has triggered the already existing tension, anxiety, and unrest among the once most blissful and quiet community of Amasiri in Ebonyi State.
“While Amasiri indigenes and visitors who identify with her are targeted for onslaught by their estranged Oso Edda neighbouring community, who are now on a rampage along the Okigwe-Afikpo federal highway, waylaying vehicles and fishing out commuters who are either of Amasiri origin or identify with Amasiri. This coordinated aggression is freely carried out uninterruptedly as a result of tacit silence from the government of Ebonyi State.
“More worrisome is that there is a totally unprovoked, unwarranted, and needless military resurgence in my community, Amasiri. Overnight, the military, reportedly detailed from Nkwegu Barracks, reinvaded yet again my community, breaking homes, destroying properties, arresting the young and old, and shooting sporadically in a totally peaceful area, without any news of any form of attacks from Amasiri or crisis in Amasiri, while leaving the aggressor, her Edda neighbouring community. This unrest is reportedly aided, sponsored, and coordinated by powerful politicians in Edda zone who have deployed their contacts in government to set the military at all costs against my people in Amasiri, just as a bait to secure a major pogrom or massacre of Amasiri people, simply to achieve their age-long desire to take over her ancestral land.
“The public is hereby notified that there is no crisis nor violence in Amasiri, and her people have not in the least behaved in any manner to warrant a military presence.
“I am constrained to yet again call on Nigerians to speak against the ongoing needless military aggression and urge the Chief of Defence Staff and the Commandant Nkwegu Military Cantonment to withdraw the military operation in Amasiri, which is totally unwarranted and unprovoked, even as I prevail on the Governor of Ebonyi State, His Excellency Francis Ogbonnia Nwifuru, to quickly intervene in this matter to save the lives and properties of the peaceful people of Amasiri.
“The governor is here again informed that there is total unrest in Amasiri, which is occasioned by the military; homes are deserted, farmlands are also not safe, and economic activities have been halted as anxiety and tension now possess the hitherto quiet and peaceful land. The governor is urged to most urgently break the deafening silence and intervene in the matter to restore peace in Amasiri.
“In a loud but very helpless voice, I urge the governor of Ebonyi State to quickly and directly address the situation personally as the Chief Security Officer of the state to curtail the ongoing intimidation, harassment, and prevent a possible carnage on the defenceless and vulnerable people of Amasiri.
“Let the whole world know that there was no reason for the resurgence or re-invasion of the military. The people have remained peaceful and have been attending all the peace meetings called for by the authorities in search of peace.
“The military re-invasion in Amasiri remains unlawful, ill-motivated, self-serving, unwarranted, illegal, unprovoked, and must be condemned by every Nigerian.”
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