Gunmen suspected to be cultists shot and killed the zonal commander of a local security outfit codenamed OSPAC in Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba\/Egbema\/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, identified as Ozomela Stephen Nwaocha, on Tuesday evening.\n<\/p>\n
Also killed were three women, including the commander\u2019s sister, who were with him during the attack.\n<\/p>\n
OSPAC is the acronym for the Ogba\/Egbema\/Ndoni Local Government Area Security Planning and Advisory Committee.\n<\/p>\n
The assailants reportedly attacked the vigilante commander while he was relaxing outside his compound with the women along Oba Road in Omoku.<\/p>\n
It was gathered that the killing may have been a reprisal following a violent clash linked to a community dispute.\n<\/p>\n
A source told our correspondent that a youth meeting had been disrupted earlier on Tuesday after armed security personnel and OSPAC members allegedly stormed the venue and opened fire, leaving two youths with gunshot injuries.\n<\/p>\n
Videos of the aftermath of the attack circulating on social media and seen by our correspondent on Wednesday showed multiple casualties, including the three women.<\/p>\n
Residents, some believed to be relatives of the victims, were seen crying at the scene, while others carried the injured into a vehicle.\n<\/p>\n
A source told our correspondent that the incident had caused panic in the area, with some residents fleeing to safer locations and business activities disrupted.\n<\/p>\n
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said, \u201cAs I speak to you, many businesses and markets have remained shut since Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMany residents have also fled to neighbouring communities for safety because of fear. There is serious panic here.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Confirming the incident in a voice note, the Public Relations Officer of OSPAC in Rivers State, Nkem Godknows, said the gunmen attacked the vigilante commander while he was sitting with his sister and her friend near his residence. <\/p>\n
Godknows said the incident occurred around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, adding that the three women died instantly after they were hit by the attackers\u2019 bullets.\n<\/p>\n
He further said two other victims sustained gunshot wounds and were rushed to hospital, where they are receiving treatment.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cIt was about 5:05 p.m. Our commander was hanging out with his sister and friend around his neighbourhood. Before you know it, the gunmen got there and shot him dead.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are three women that died on the spot, while two others are in the hospital with bullet wounds.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reported to the police immediately. My call to the people of Omoku and ONELGA in general is that they should remain calm. Nobody should panic.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBy God\u2019s grace, OSPAC and the security agencies are on top of the matter. I also appeal to the government and the security personnel to come to the aid of OSPAC because we are not properly taken care of.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not paid. We have no source of income.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
When contacted on Wednesday afternoon, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Blessing Agabe, confirmed the attack and expressed sadness over the incident, describing it as a setback to the relative peace being enjoyed in the state.\n<\/p>\n
Agabe said the command strongly condemned the attack and reiterated its commitment to ensuring that those responsible are arrested and prosecuted.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cI can confirm the incident. The Rivers State Police Command is saddened by this incident, which has disturbed the relative peace being enjoyed in the state.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe command condemns this act in its entirety and assures that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rivers State Police Command seeks credible information from members of the public that will assist us in our ongoing investigation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gunmen suspected to be cultists shot and killed the zonal commander of a local security outfit codenamed OSPAC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[924,152790,1397,234188,20016,8720,152792,197590,146441,90,1351,56,54,55,197216,976],"class_list":["post-705866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-crime","tag-cultism","tag-environment","tag-gunmen","tag-murder","tag-nigeria","tag-omoku","tag-ospac","tag-rivers-state","tag-science","tag-security","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vigilante","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}