Youths raze council chairman’s house, other houses over killing by Ebubeagu

Youths protesting the torture and killing of a man by the operatives of the Ebubeagu security outfit have razed a house belonging to the chairman of a local council in Ebonyi State, Nigeria’s South-east.

About six other houses belonging to various individuals have also been set ablaze.

The youths in Akaeze community, Ivo Local Government Area of the state, protested on Sunday over the death of a suspected criminal, Anyim Akpoke, after he was allegedly tortured by Ebubeagu operatives in the area.

The protest was said to have degenerated when one of the protesters was shot dead, leading to the burning down of houses.

The identity of the shooters could not be ascertained at the time of filling the report.

Ebubeagu was set up by the Ebonyi State Government to complement the job of the police and other security agencies in checking the rising crime rates in the state.

The Chairman of Ivo Local Government Area, Onyebuchi Ogbadu, told reporters in Abakaliki he had no hand in the killing of the protester.

He lamented the destruction of his properties and that of others.

Mr Ogbadu said the protesters were sponsored by opposition politicians to destroy his properties and that of others.

The protesters, he said, set ablaze houses of some Ebubeagu operatives and his filling station on the road before coming to attack his house.

The chairman said the Ebubeagu operatives involved in the torture and killing had been arrested and detained by the police, and that the youths ought not to have resorted to the destruction of properties.

The police spokesperson in Ebonyi, Loveth Odah, told PREMIUM TIMES some Ebubeagu operatives had been arrested for allegedly torturing and killing of the man.

“Nobody has a right to take a life, no matter the offence the person committed. The police in totality condemn jungle justice, self-help, brutality of any kind,” she said.