Suspected IPOB members set car, two motorcycles ablaze in Ebonyi

Suspected members of the pro-separatist group indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have been accused of setting a car and two motorcycles ablaze in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

The hoodlums were apparently enforcing the sit-at-home order declared by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) over the trial of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, which was held in Federal High Court Abuja on Wednesday.

While they set ablaze a car along Hilltop Road very close to Waterwalks road and a motorcycle at the Hiltop Junction near the former DSS State office, the hoodlums around the same time burnt down another motorcycle near Ebebe junction after Nnodo Secondary School, Abakaliki.

The hoodlums, it was gathered, took residents unawares in unleashing the violence on the people, around 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Wednesday.

The motorcycle and car owners, it was gathered, were also beaten up by the hoodlums.

The development caused fear and panic among residents of the capital city.

“There is panic in my side following the burning of a bike after Nnodo Secondary School before that bridge. Some motorists and passers-by in my Ozibo area refused to ply that our road but I plied it and dropped my children in school,” a source told our Correspondent.

The security agents later arrived and took the burnt motorcycles and car away.

But the Police spokesperson in the State, DSP Loveth Odah said the vehicle caught fire due to overheating and not as a result of attack by hoodlums.

Asked about the two motorcycles, she said she was not aware of the incidents.

She, however, promised to get back to our Correspondent on the issue of the burnt motorcycles.

Meanwhile, the sit-at-home order declared by IPOB on Wednesday recorded partial 90 percent success in the State as banks, shops, markets and majority of schools in the capital did not open for business.

Normalcy has however returned to the city at the time of writing this report, as some residents were seen going about their normal business activities including in the areas where the attacks occured.

Police patrol vans were also seen patrolling the streets to ward off any further attacks.

Filling stations remained closed as black market operators made brisk business selling at exorbitant prices to users.

There were also minimal human and vehicular movements within the capital city, and even motor parks did not open for business.