In the early hours of Tuesday, Anambra State was rocked by violence as gunmen launched a brazen assault on the Oba Police Divisional Headquarters and the nearby Oba Civic Center, resulting in the tragic death of a police corporal.
Meanwhile, Police-led Joint Security Force comprising of the Army, Navy, Civil defence and other security agencies are currently in a joint on-slaught operation within Oba and its environments following the attack.
According to a statement from SP Tochukwu Ikenga, the Police Public Relations Officer, the gunmen unleashed a hail of bullets in a desperate bid to breach the police station’s defenses. They hurled petrol bombs, igniting infernos that consumed portions of the facility, including the Oba Civic Center.
Ikenga stated: “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 Center.
Unfortunately, a police corporal who was fatally wounded paid the supreme price, while the fire was put off with the help of other Police officers on duty and the Joint Security responding team.”
He added that the Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Obono Itam, condemned this heinous act, “calling the assault on security facilities an attack on the very essence of the nation.”
With resolve, he pledged to pursue justice and ensure that those responsible for this atrocity are held accountable.