An uneasy air pervades Isingwa Autonomous Community in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State. The Anaba family is at daggers’ drawn with a royal house in the community over an alleged attack on a member of the family, Mr. Amanna Anaba, on April 7.
The attack, it was gathered, was carried out by people suspected to be children of a traditional ruler in the area. However, men of the 14 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Ohafia are now trying to unravel the mystery behind the attack.
According to members of the Anaba family, the incident was an armed robbery attack, but the other party said it was a mere fight between two brothers, insisting that one of the parties was only trying to misinform the Nigerian Army.
Some members of the community, however, said the attack might have been one of several failed attempts to reinstate a top local government official that was suspended, following the purported humiliation of the state governor at the burial of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Amanna, who resides in Port Harcourt, had come from his base to celebrate Easter with other members of the family, including his elder brother, Tochukwu Anaba, who is a lawyer, and some other friends.
Amanna said he had no premonition of evil when he decided to have some drinks with his brother and friends at the White House, a popular bar at the Amapu Ntigha community. Daily Sun learnt that trouble started when Amanna and the rest were leaving the bar. Amanna drove Tochukwu’s 2006 Volkswagen Passat car because his elder brother had decided to ride with another relative. He drove behind the car boarded by his brother.
As they drove out of the White House premises, they allegedly noticed three vehicles parked at a distance. The occupants of the cars, it was learnt, were armed with guns, machetes and bottles. Sensing danger, Amanna and the other car sped off. However, the three cars reportedly accosted Amanna at the Orie Ntigha Market as he could not catch up with the other car. Amanna, it was learnt, reversed the car from Ntigha to the White House before the suspected pursuers eventually caught up with him.
According to eyewitnesses, the pursuers ordered Amanna out of the car at gunpoint and collected the car key from him. He was allegedly walloped thoroughly when the attackers attempted to drive the car but couldn’t because of some in-built security features in the vehicle. Nevertheless, they allegedly vandalised the car before they jumped inside their own cars and left the scene. Amanna, it was learnt, was writhing in pains before a kind-hearted man saw him and called his brother.
Tochukwu told journalists: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him, lying in a pool of his blood and my car was also damaged. People around, who saw the attackers told me who they were and the cars they brought for the operation: a red Volkswagen Jetta, a dark Acura MDX SUV and a black Toyota Camry.
“I got even more confused because I know my brother has no business with them. I see no reason they attacked him because we are not even involved in their local politics because we are all busy people.“I ran into a police post which is right opposite the scene of the attack and the police officers on duty who actually witnessed the incident declined to give me a report to take my brother to the hospital. I also informed them where I learnt the attackers were hiding but they refused to go with me. “In fact, they intimated me that in the history of the community, no policeman had been able to carry out an arrest in the hideout of the perpetrators.
“When the police couldn’t provide the report to take him to a hospital, I contacted one of our friends, who is a doctor at the General Hospital, Aba, and he asked us to bring him over. A former top council official who was with me provided his car and we all drove my brother to the hospital where he was treated. I can’t really tell whether those that attacked my brother had thought that it was me simply because my friends are politicians, who are not under their grip or they did that with the aim of stealing my car.”
