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A dark cloud of hostility looms over Enugu State‘s Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, where the alleged brutal murder of four Aku youths by Ikolo community members has sparked a deadly rift.
As tensions boil over, the fragile peace in the region hangs in the balance, threatening to snap under the weight of grief and anger.
The slain Aku youths were part of a desperate search party scouring the area for three missing friends, who were believed to have fallen victim to a kidnapping plot allegedly hatched by Ikolo residents. Their tragic quest for answers ended in unspeakable horror.
A community insider revealed that the chain of events leading to the tragedy began on August 1, 2024, when three Aku youths – Frank Didigwu, Chibuike Nnadi, and Obiora Dugwu – ventured into Ikolo in search of traditional remedies for the ailing mother of one of their own, unaware of the dangers that lay ahead.
He said that “on getting to the premises of the herbalist, one of the victims put a phone call to his sister, confirming that they have got to the residence of the herbalist and awaited their turn to receive attention.
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“Since that call, the three young men have not been seen or heard from, and their phones have remained switched off” he said, adding that on Thursday, August 8, the search party was allegedly ambushed by suspected armed Ikolo residents, leading to the killing of four of them, while others sustained gunshot injuries.
In a hastily convened press conference yesterday, the Aku General Assembly (AGA) vehemently denounced the brutal killings as a heinous crime, an act of terrorism, and a senseless murder, demanding justice for the victims and their families.
“The Aku community feels burdened to inform the world of a dastardly act of criminality, terrorism, and murder being unleashed on its citizens by the Ikolo community of Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State without cause or provocation,” the AGA said in its statement read by the secretary of the AGA, James Ezike.
