Ebonyi state government suspends civil servants from war-torn communities, sacks coordinators

Ebonyi Governor, David Umahi on Tuesday suspended all civil servants from at the Effium community of Ohaukwu Local Government Area.

He also sacked the two coordinators of the development centres in the community.

The action follows the recent resumption of hostilities in the intra-communal war between the Effium and Ezza-Effium people in their community.

Three weeks ago, five workers of a construction firm working in the Effium section of the road were kidnapped in the community and have not been seen since then.

They are believed to have been murdered by warlords who buried them in shallow graves in a forest in the area.

Also, some 17 persons were reportedly killed in the community in an attack by gunmen recently.

Two policemen were abducted on Sunday while three others sustained varying degrees of injuries in an attack on a police team which accompanied Ebonyi lawmaker, Chinedu Awo to the area.

The team was said to have gone to plead with the warlords to show them where the five kidnapped construction workers were buried and allow them to exhume their corpses.

But over 60 gunmen ambushed them and in the shootout, two of the police officers were allegedly abducted.

The Governor announced the suspension in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state.

He was speaking during a security summit on the situation in the community organised by the State’s founding fathers, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other interest groups.

Umahi alleged that though the perpetrators of the killings and destruction in the area are funded from outside, some stakeholders of the area within the state also fund such.

“The coordinators of the two development centres from the area are hereby removed from office while salaries of permanent secretaries from the area are suspended,” he said.

He said that he will approach the House of Assembly for the way forward on the chairman of the council and the two House of Assembly members from the area.

He said that the government cannot sit and watch them receiving salaries which he alleged go in sponsoring killings and destruction of the people’s properties.

“Recently, five construction workers on the state’s ring road which passes through the area were killed by unknown people and these workers who know nothing about the crisis were here to help the State,” he said.

He said that the suspects arrested over the incident confessed that the workers have been killed and buried and the government in pacifying the affected families, sought to know the location of where they were buried.

Umahi directed stakeholders from the area to handle the issue within seven days or attract severe actions from the Federal Government.

(The Nation)