A group under the auspices of the Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspora (AESID) have decried the alleged extra judicial killing of their kins which they put at 500, in Effium community, Ohaukwu Local Council of the state.
The association in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, also called on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in Ebonyi State to put an end to the killings.
The AESID president, Pascal Oluchukwu, claimed that 500 natives of the once peaceful community lost their lives with properties worth millions of naira destroyed in the war allegedly provoked by the Korri natives to wipe out Ezza indigenes.
However, state officials put the figure of casualties at 15.
The statement is coming on the heels of an attack on Tuesday by suspected hired militias in military camouflage in an Ezza-dominated village.
The group claimed that mercenaries had stormed Nwekendiagu village in Effium, an Ezza enclave, last Thursday, killing over 15 persons and burning over 200 houses, including a fuel station in the area.
Meanwhile, Governor David Umahi has ordered immediate dusk to dawn curfew in Effium to avert further killings.
Umahi made this known same Wednesday in a statement issued through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, in Abakaliki.
