ENUGU—LEADERS of Awara Court Area, comprising Awara, Asaa and Obile communities have condemned the recent amnesty granted to members of Don Waney’s gang by the Imo State Government.
In a statement made available to journalists, the leaders questioned the rationale behind the amnesty to these same militants who were recently declared wanted alongside their leader, Don Waney for the January 1, 2018 killings in Omoku, Rivers State.
Coordinator of the group, Mr. Ifeanyi Isife who signed the statement recalled that the Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike visited Assa, Obile and Awara oil producing communities in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State and discovered that everybody in the community had deserted because of the proximity between these communities and Omoku community in Rivers State.
The statement read: “Thus, the commissioner had alerted the state government on the need to provide security in these communities. It took the combination of the commissioner of police and concerned citizens of the communities to bring in security made up of SARS, anti kidnap, anti cult and mobile men who did a good job, killing and arresting the cultists many of whom are in prison for murder, arson, robbery and unlawful possession of fire arms.
“It’s important to highlight that some of these people had taken the state government amnesty in 2016 and yet defiled it to commit these atrocities. Kudos to the security agencies who brought normalcy to the area which caused people to return en masse last Christmas.
“Recently, some enemies of the community decided to bring back a group of these unrepentant cultists to the community. And this met stiff resistance but since they are highly placed, they had their way and there is serious tension in the community now. But kudos to the security personnel whose presence is still being felt.
“The situation got worse about a month ago when some people arrested confessed that they took off from one of the communities in Awara to commit the January 1st, Don Waney killings in Amoku.”
