According to the source, the warmongers had gone to the boundary with the Umu-Ode community more than six times now shooting sporadically for more than one hour on each occasion.
There is palpable tension in Oruku and its neighbouring communities as warmongers in Oruku are angling for another communal war with the Umu-Ode community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.
SaharaReporters reported that the warmongers in the Oruku community had looted and burnt down all the houses of community members that supported the Enugu State government in bringing a peace deal that saw the partitioning of the community on 70:30 percent ratio in favour of Oruku.
Apart from the destruction of properties, the warmongers have also killed several leaders of the community who supported the peace deal including their traditional ruler, Late Igwe Chidiebere Emmanuel Mbah, President General of the Community and head of the Community Vigilantes.
Sources from the community told SaharaReporters on Wednesday that the Oruku community had bought and delivered 20 AK-47 rifles in addition to a few ones including a machine gun they used in previous wars which they had refused to hand over to the police after a peace deal in 2017.
According to the source, the warmongers had gone to the boundary with the Umu-Ode community more than six times now shooting sporadically for more than one hour on each occasion.
One of the victims of the destruction in the community, whose duplex was burnt down in December 2022, Mr Agozi Ani, lamented that the warmongers had vowed those who supported the government peace deal that had not been killed would not return to the community.
"Our crime was supporting former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi's peace deal on Oruku - Umu-Ode crises," Ani stated, lamenting that the Enugu State government "just left us to our peril".
He said: "We came out and did all we could to restore peace in the area based on the immediate past governor's promises to restore peace. We supported him and today we are bearing the brunt of the whole thing. They have destroyed our homes, knocked down our houses, sold the rods as scraps and they said that we can never come back to that community again.
"As we speak they are currently ruling with heavily armed men. They have something like 20 AK-47s. They are roaming freely in the village.”
The agonised Ani lamented that in all the destruction and killings visited on them, the government of Enugu State had done practically nothing to save us. "The disappointing thing is that those arrested for these arsons and murder were released by the same former Governor Ugwuanyi and his Attorney General. We felt so disappointed and let down by the government that we worked for. All these that we are suffering was just because we supported me."
Meanwhile, efforts by Saharareporters to speak with the Enugu State Police command were not successful as the command's spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe could not be reached.
His phone was said not reachable and had yet to respond to a text message inquiry sent to him.