Emene killings: State Security Council meeting holds Thursday; Nwodo denies comments

President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo has denied several comments on traditional and social media platforms on the Emene Enugu killings by security personnel attributed to him.

He denied the comments in a statement by Chief Emeka Attamah, his Special Adviser On Media Affairs, stressing that they are all fake since he has not, since the start of the crisis involving members of the IPOB and security agencies, made any comments.

The statement said that though Ohanaeze Ndigbo has been involved in efforts to get to the root of the crisis, “ fake Twitter accounts and fake Facebook accounts and press releases bearing the name of the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, have inundated the social and mass media. It has become necessary to make it abundantly clear that Chief Nwodo, until now, has not commented on this development.”

It said that after an exhaustive meeting, Wednesday evening with the Enugu State Governor, “who by law is the Chief Security Officer of the State, Ohanaeze was briefed of efforts by the State government to unravel the cause, extent of fatalities and those responsible for them in a State Security Council meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, 27th August, to hear and evaluate the accounts of all concerned in this sad development.”

The statement stressed that “Ohanaeze is saddened by the grave fatalities occasioned by this development and is determined to get to the root cause of this unfortunate event. We mourn the sad loss of all our children and other Nigerians whose lives were wasted by this sad development. We await the outcome of the Enugu State Security Council inquisition and advise all and sundry to discountenance all false releases attributed to the President General.”
It assured that the apex Igbo organisation’s final statement on the crisis “will be made in due course.”

However, in a statement, the Enugu state government said the Governor had summoned an emergency state security council meeting on the crisis for Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

The statement said in full:

Following the recent civil disturbances and subsequent breakdown of law and order in Emene, Enugu State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has summoned an emergency State Security Council meeting.

The meeting, according to a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Simon Uchenna Ortuanya, will hold on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, at the Executive Council Chambers, Lion Building, Government House, Enugu, and scheduled for 2pm.

The statement added that “all security agencies in the state are expected to brief His Excellency, the Governor, fully, on the immediate and remote causes of the clashes, as well as advance measures to avert such occurrences in the future.”

It would be recalled that there was a clash in Emene, on Sunday, which prompted Gov. Ugwuanyi to visit the scene, where he was assured that normalcy has returned.