Violence Erupts In Ebonyi As Gunmen Kill One, Injure Others

Tension has escalated in Ekoli, located in Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, following the killing of one individual and injuries to several others by suspected armed men.

Eyewitnesses report that a group known as the Catcham Boys attacked a man named Udu Nnachi Uzor in his home at Ndenworo village. His wife, Onyinye, who witnessed the event, said that about 20 hoodlums, reportedly supported by suspected soldiers and police officers, stormed their house around midday and demanded to know her husband’s whereabouts.

“They went straight into the room and shot him dead. The fatal shot was fired by a Catcham member known as ‘Deri,’” Onyinye recounted.

Udu Nnachi Uzor’s body has since been taken to the morgue.

Community leader Chief Etta Egor described the Catcham vigilante group as a source of ongoing terror and unrest in Ekoli-Edda.

“We saw them enter villages armed with pump-action rifles, accompanied by police and soldiers. We wondered what the cause of this new disturbance was. Suddenly, gunshots rang out, and when we rushed to Nnachi Uzor’s home, he was already dead. His family was devastated. We don’t understand what crime Ekoli has committed that these attacks are being allowed against innocent youths,” he said.

Sources also revealed that a moving MAC truck, owned by a former council chairman and diverted by the armed men, remains missing.

The community has been tense since last month, when suspected political thugs launched attacks that left one person dead and caused property damage worth millions of naira.

During that attack, former local government chairman and ex-House of Assembly member Dr. Eni Chima and his younger brother, Chima Chima, narrowly escaped death, though the politician’s SUV was riddled with bullets.

Following these events, the brothers were banished from the community for seven years amid allegations of fomenting communal conflict.

The banishment itself heightened tensions, which have now intensified further following the recent killing.