Residents of Port-Harcourt’s Oyigbo suburb have continued to live in fear after witnessing widespread looting and destruction by armed thugs.

Two police stations and a state court were set on fire earlier this week in Oyigbo, leading Governor Nyesom Wike to declared a 24-hour curfew on October 21.

It was not clear the cause of the recent  attacks but some residents alleged a dispute between some Nigerians of northern origin and some occupants in Eleme Oil Mill area.

A resident of Oyigbo told Peoples Gazette that some northerners accompanied by soldiers at about 4:30 a.m. on October 22, a day after the first attacks, attacked Oyigbo-Asa and Oyibo Express in the Kom-Kom area.

“They attacked street by street shooting, then boys attacked them,” a resident said. The official death toll has yet to be made public, but a witness said stray bullets killed three persons while they slept and soldiers also died during the attack.

Another resident said during the sporadic shooting, a couple was killed while returning from an overnight prayer session. 

Many residents who fled the community, which lies just east of Port Harcourt city centre, said they could not tell when it would be safe for them to return.

Some residents alleged the recent attacks in Oyigbo were caused by members of separatist IPOB.

This prompted Mr. Wike to outlaw IPOB activities in Rivers State in line with the proscription order of the Federal High Court and the Federal Government.

In September 2017, the Buhari administration classified IPOB as a terrorist organisation, which was later gazetted after being affirmed by the Federal High Court.

On September 30, a police officer was killed when armed thugs attacked a station in Oyigbo. Residents linked the violence to an earlier statement by Nnamdi Omoni, a police spokesman who had earlier warned against protests by IPOB elements on Independence Day.

The police blamed IPOB for the latest attack on October 21.

Mr. Wike directed security agencies to stop any form of procession or agitation by IPOB in Rivers State, advising police to arrest and prosecute any person or group that identifies with the IPOB separatist group in the state.