Angry mob on Sunday, January 1, 2023, attacked operatives of Anambra State Fire Service for allegedly arriving late at the scene of a fire incident.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Director/Fire Chief of Anambra Fire Service, Mr Martin Agbili, and made available to journalists in Onitsha on Monday, January 2, 2023.
Agbili said that the incident occurred at Atani Road, by Uga Junction, Onitsha, at about 6 p. m.
He said that the attackers shattered the wind shield and side mirrors of the fire truck, and also injured some of the operatives.
The fire chief described the incident as barbaric and a bad way to start the new year.
According to him, on Sunday 1st January, 2023 at about 1800hours, Anambra State Fire Service, received a distress call of fire incident at Uga junction by Atani road.
“Immediately, our fire truck and fire fighters were deployed to the scene. On arrival to the fire scene, the mob attacked us.
“They threw stones, sticks, and irons at us. Unfortunately, they shattered the windscreen of our fire trucks, the side glasses and also wounded some firefighters.
“As they started throwing stones on the fire truck while the fire was still on, what we could hear was, ‘is it now that you people are coming to fight the fire?
“We managed to escape the mob attack with our shattered windscreen and some injured firefighters.
“This gift of new year is really unfortunate, that our hardworking firefighters of Anambra State will be welcomed to the new year with this barbaric act.
“Perpetrators of this ugly act will surely be brought to book,” Agbali said.
Tragic: Mob Lynches Oyo Motor Park Boss, Jamiu Sego, Over Billboard Placement
One of the leaders of the Park Management System in Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of Oyo State, Jamiu Sego, has been reportedly killed and his corpse set ablaze by angry youths in Igboora, for allegedly destroying billboards of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the area.
The PUNCH reports that the PMS chairman in the state, Lamidi Mukaila, popularly called Auxiliary was arraigned, alongside six others, now at large, before a Chief Magistrate on Thursday, November 17, 2022, for destroying billboards of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Investigations by our correspondent, however, revealed that the incident which happened on Saturday also claimed the life of a teenager, who was hit by a stray bullet while two others sustained serious injuries and are currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
Meanwhile, the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC in Ibarapa Central and North local governments, Adesina Adeyemo, has denied the report.
He said the party was not involved in any crisis at the weekend as the issue was between government agent and an Okada rider in the area.
He said, “The event happened around a market place and that is where the guy was killed. The guy in question used to collect rate for the Oyo State Government. He used to collect rate from motorcyclists and it was in the process of forcing one of the motorcyclists to pay the rate on Saturday that an argument ensued between them.
“And in the process, the guy (deceased) brought out a gun attempting to shoot him (Okada man). As he was dragging the gun with him, the stray bullet hit a small boy that was moving around. The child died. The death of the boy triggered the people’s anger around to run after him as he was about running away. They beat him mercilessly, killed and set his corpse ablaze.”
Also denying the report, the PMS said the deceased had never been a member of the PMS while alive.
A statement by the PMS Public Relations Officer in the state, Emiola Jelili, described it as false and a part of malicious attempt by agents of darkness to continually smear the image of the body and its leaders.
“As regards the news reports flying around about the death of one Jamiu Sego, who was killed and burnt to death yesterday morning at Igboora, linking the deceased to the Park Management System, it has become necessary for us as an organisation to come out and debunk such reports by unverified news outlets as false and a part of the malicious attempt by agents of darkness to continually smear the image of the body and its leaders.
“We state in clear terms that Jamiu was never a member of the PMS and neither did he head any unit in the PMS while alive.
“We have already distanced ourselves from the destruction of billboards and defacing posters of politicians, in fact, we already stated that members of the PMS have been charged with the responsibility of protecting every billboard erected in the state as we believe in the principles of democracy and level-playing field.
“Finally, we call on the police and other security operatives to carry out a thorough investigation so as to fish out those involved in the killing and lynching of the deceased,” the statement added.
As of press time, all efforts to get reactions or confirmation from the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adewale Osifeso, were not successful as his mobile phone number was not reachable.
