Community demands discreet investigation
By Jeff Agbodo, Abakaliki
Tension has gripped Ihetutu community in Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, following the alleged killing of two youths by suspected soldiers attached to a mining company in the area.
The deceased, identified as Chibuike Elema, 18, and Obinna Joshua, 19, were reportedly shot dead around midday on Sunday at a mining site operated by Palladium Mining Company.
According to accounts by residents and the father of one of the victims, the youths were allegedly shot after they declined a demand by the soldiers for money while returning from work.
The incident sparked outrage among residents, particularly women and community leaders, who called for an impartial investigation into the killings and raised concerns over the treatment of community members by the mining company and security personnel.
There was an atmosphere of grief and tension in the community on Sunday evening when our correspondent visited the area.
Narrating the circumstances surrounding his son’s death, Donatus Okoro, father of Chibuike Elema, said his 18-year-old son had been called from home on Sunday morning to join other workers at the mining site.
He said eyewitnesses told him that the youths were returning from work when soldiers attached to Palladium Mining Company allegedly demanded money from them.
The grieving father alleged that the soldiers opened fire after the youths said they had no money to give them.
“My son was called from the house this morning to come and join them for Sunday work. While coming back along the road, according to people who witnessed what happened, the soldiers attached to a mining company called Palladium asked them to settle them.
“But they told the soldiers that they were not with anything. The soldiers raised their guns and shot them in the head,” he alleged.
Okoro appealed to the Ebonyi State Government to investigate the incident and ensure that anyone found responsible for his son’s death was brought to justice.
The second victim, Obinna Joshua, was identified as the son of the serving councillor representing Ihetutu community in Ivo LGA. He was reportedly a second-year undergraduate student.
The killings have heightened concerns among residents over the use of lethal force at the mining site. Community leaders maintained that even if the youths were suspected of an offence, they should have been arrested and handed over to the police.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ihetutu Community Development Union, Prince Fabian Chukwu, condemned the incident and urged the state government to intervene.
Chukwu described the killings as unacceptable, saying security personnel deployed to protect a mining operation should not take the law into their own hands.
“We are not happy. For a miner working in our community to authorise security personnel to kill our youths is something we cannot accept,” he said.
“Even if the youths had come to take anything from the company, the appropriate thing would have been to arrest them and hand them over to the police, not to kill them. They were not authorised to kill a vibrant youth like that,” he added.
The community leader said Palladium had operated in the area for about five years or more. According to him, the company initially worked as a technical partner to another mining firm before taking over operations at the site.
Chukwu alleged that the company’s owner, Victor Nwokeji, had taken over the mining site from Gexpam Mining Company, which he said had brought Nwokeji in as a partner in a lead-zinc concession at Ihetutu.
He further alleged that the mining operation was currently being run under the name Ambertone Logistics Ltd, which he described as another arm of Palladium Mining Company.
According to Chukwu, tensions between the community and the company had become more pronounced following the change in ownership or operational control.
He appealed to the state government to intervene urgently to prevent the situation from escalating, while urging the bereaved families to remain calm as the community seeks justice.
Also speaking, Mrs Ifeyinwa Eze, a former secretary of the women’s wing of the Ihetutu Community Development Union, accused the mining company and security personnel of treating residents unfairly.
She called for an investigation into the killings and a review of the continued operations of the company and the soldiers in the community.
“They are treating our children as if they are thieves. We want them to go. The government should stop both the mining company and the army from operating in Ihetutu. They are treating us like slaves, and it has never been like this before,” she said.
Questioning the circumstances surrounding the deaths, Eze said Sunday was a normal working day for male miners in the community, contrary to any suggestion that the youths had committed an offence simply by going to the mining site.
“What crime have these children committed by going to the site today? Men work on Sundays; it is only women who do not go to the mining site on Sundays,” she said.
The incident has left the community mourning the two young men and raised fresh questions about the conduct of security personnel deployed to protect mining operations.
Residents are calling on the Ebonyi State Government and relevant security authorities to conduct an impartial investigation, establish the circumstances surrounding the shootings and ensure that anyone found culpable is held accountable.
As the bereaved families mourn their loved ones, community members insist that justice must be served and that measures must be taken to prevent a recurrence.
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