Gunmen, enforcing the sit-at-home order of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, attacked Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkume, chasing away students who were sitting for the West African Examinations Council, WAEC.
They also set ablaze motorcycles belonging to the teachers and students and ordered everyone, including the students sitting for English Language paper, to go home.
It was learnt that the enforcers who were fully armed stormed the premises of the school in the early hours of the day.
An eyewitness said they came in a motorcycle motorcade as well as three vehicles and started shooting in the air.
He said the enforcers set ablaze about 8 motorcycles belonging to the teachers and chased them away from the school premises.
“In the process, students were afraid and the teachers started running for their lives.
“The gunmen who were well-armed with sophisticated guns mounted the entrance of the school, shooting in the air while some of their gang members entered into the classrooms and asked everybody to lie down and after, asked them to pack all their belongings and vacate the school premises,” the eyewitness said.
He continued: “They warned them not to come back to the school to conduct any exam again. They said there will be nothing like exams in the school. We are afraid that our children will not sit for the exams. The Nkume community is under tension and our people are afraid. These boys are not smiling. Even as I am talking to you, the school has been deserted.
“The students who were sitting for the English Language paper and the invigilators had to run for safety. They set ablaze motorcycles belonging to some students and teachers.”
Another source revealed that residents of the area were left in utter apprehension as gunshots rent the air.
“There was heavy shooting between security men and the gunmen. Everybody was lying down inside. The situation is very terrifying and traumatizing. We now live every day in fear of the unknown; we don’t know when this thing will end. They should please stop this problem; people are dying,” he lamented.
Recall that both Imo and Anambra governors had urged the residents to ignore the sit-at-home order and go about their businesses but in spite of that directive to market leaders, banks and other business outfits to go back to their businesses or face sanctions, markets, banks, traders and residents across Imo and Anambra, Abia, Enugu, and Ebonyi remained indoors.
Although half of the various commercial banks with branches in Imo and Anambra States resumed operations yesterday, other businesses were still shut down while the streets remained empty.
