A truck loaded with motorcycle spare parts on Monday fell victim of the sit-at-home orders and counter orders by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as it was razed by suspected members of the group.
The incident took place at Eluagu Obukpa in Nsukka Local Government Area in Enugu State around 7am.
Sources at the scene told our correspondent that the arsonists driving a Sienna car overtook the articulated vehicle and forced it to stop before setting it ablaze.
An eyewitness told our correspondent that it was not clear who the arsonists were but that they barked out orders as they went about setting the truck ablaze.
“I don’t know if they’re IPOB members because they were not wearing anything depicting them as members of the group but they were shouting, ‘no movement today, you must sit-at-home’ while setting the trailer on fire.
“I don’t know how but the driver escaped and nobody was killed,” the witness said.
Men of Enugu State Fire Service raced to the scene to salvage the situation but they couldn’t get there on time as the goods estimated to be worth millions of naira had been decimated by the fire.
Mr Daniel Ndukwe, the spokesman of Enugu State Police Command, said: “Information surrounding a truck found on fire this morning at Eluagu Obukpa in Nsukka LGA is sketchy, as the command is yet to receive any formal report of the incident.
“However, preliminary investigation has commenced,” Ndukwe, an assistant superintendent of police, said.
IPOB had declared Mondays sit-at-home in the Eastern part of the country to protest the continued detention of their leaders, Nnamdi Kanu who was abducted in Kenya and smuggled into Nigeria.
IPOB’s leadership later suspended the order and declared that the sit-at-home will now take place any day Mr Kanu will be making appearance in court.
Three weeks after the announcement of the suspension, South East continued to be deserted over what people described as ‘fear of the unknown’. ##
