Abia Govt In Talks With Army Over Harassment of Community- Commissioner

Chief Dan Okoli, Commissioner for Homeland Security Abia, said the state was in talks with military authorities to stop their men from harassing Owaza people in Ukwa West LGA.
Okoli disclosed this on Friday while reacting to Save Our Souls message Ukwa people sent to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and reported in the media to stop his men from “running the community out of town”.
Nigerian Army personnel had been harassing and intimidating Owaza people and nearby Ukwa communities after some hoodlums killed and disarmed one soldier in the area.
The harassment has resulted in the residents running away from their communities for fear of being hurt or killed by military personnel.
Okoli said: “I won’t tell you what government is doing, but what I will tell you is that something is being done about it. You know how military people behave when you kill one of them, so it is not just by words of mouth that we talk. Meetings have been going, that is much I can say about it. It is not unexpected that it will not be business as usual when a section of the army is aggrieved, they behave in certain ways. It will still come down, it will still pass, government is discussing with their leaders to assuage their grievances within a short time, normalcy will return”.
The community in their letter to the COAS said they live in fear over incessant attacks by 144 Battalion soldiers, Asa who might want to avenge the killing of two of their colleagues by gunmen along Uzuaku/Okohia axis.