Crisis In Enugu Community As Armed Thugs Hired By Commissioner Ezeh Brutalise Residents Over Leadership Tussle

Residents of Mburubu community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State have narrated harrowing details of attacks carried out by armed thugs allegedly hired by the state Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lawrence Ozoemena Ezeh.

SaharaReporters visited the community on Thursday, December 4, 2025, where multiple victims recounted being brutalised during a leadership tussle tied to the selection of a new traditional ruler.

With a bandage on his broken right hand, a resident of Obinagu in Mburubu community, Ezekiel Nwannaji Ogbonna, who spoke with SaharaReporters in Igbo language, said he narrowly escaped death during the October 31, 2025, attack by the thugs.

“I was one of the people those things wanted to kill that night. They broke my two hands,” he said. 

Ogbonna explained that he was returning from work with a friend when a group led by two known youths, “2Face”, identified as Cletus Eze, and “Bakasi”, whose real name is Ekwueme Onyeabor, accosted him.

“I was returning from work that day and getting to a place where we have the status of Igwe (former traditional rulership), I was accosted by 2Face, his real name is Cletus Eze and Ekwueme Onyeabor, known as Bakasi, with some other boys who Prince (the commissioner) is training in Port Harcourt.

“They accosted me that night when I was returning with my friend. I didn't do anything to them. I didn't argue with them, but immediately I got to where they were, they said I was the one they were waiting for.

“Some of them said they should shoot me dead. I was surprised that they were a mixture of security (local vigilantes) and those who are not security, including small boys, who were there, fully armed with guns,” he said.

Ogbonna said the attackers beat him without doing anything wrong, also assaulting his friend.

“Some of them said they should kill me, but some said no. That was how they started beating me without doing anything wrong. They also broke my friend's head that day.

“They brutalised me so much. I have some photos of the incident. One of them, known as ‘Money Na Water’, used a broken bottle to slash my face. They beat me to near death that day.

“I'm a commercial driver, but as I am now, I can't use my broken hands to do anything. Since then till now, I have not been able to do any work. Because of this, I lost my job. My employer took my vehicle from me and gave it to another person.”

Another victim, who identified himself as Paul Edeh, told SaharaReporters how he was brutally assaulted the same night. 

“I was going out on October 31, at around 11 pm, when the incident happened,” Edeh said.

“We were going to Ozor Jerry's (Engr. Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe) house when the thugs met us on the way and started beating me. 

“They were Engr. Lawrence Ezeh’s group. They were the ones who beat me on the road. They even shot at me, kicked me on the head, broke my teeth and kicked me in the chest.”

Edeh said he was beaten because he is supporting Engr. Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe, popularly called Ozor Jerry, whom the community said they have elected as Igwe (monarch).

“I didn't do anything wrong to them. I was going on my own, but they said that I am supporting Jerry. They were sent by Prince Lawrence Ezeh,” he alleged.

Also, a female resident of the community confirmed the October 31 attack by the armed thugs allegedly sent by the commissioner.

The female resident who witnessed the incident told SaharaReporters that shootings erupted around 10 pm. 

“On October 31, Lawrence Ezeh (the Commissioner for Science and Technology), with Simon Obi, came with the youths he is training and started protesting on the night of October 31,” she said.

“I didn't understand what was happening, but around 10 pm,  I told my children we should close the shop and go home. While we were closing, they started shooting guns everywhere.”

Another female resident, Ezeh Chioma, lamented the continuous terror.

She said, “We nominated Ozor Jerry as the Igwe of Mburubu according to the rules and the constitution, but unfortunately, these guys came to terrorise us, attacked us.

“What we intended to do, they destroyed everything, shooting guns up and down, wounding many people and destroying many houses, telling us that it was Prince Ezeh and Simon Obi that sent them to destroy the whole thing.”

According to her, “We are currently living in fear in this Mburubu. We are appealing to the government to come to our aid, to help us because we no longer come outside freely. We are coming out with fear.

“Many people were wounded that day. If not by the grace of God, many people would have been shot to death because they shot guns from night to morning. We were running helter-skelter trying to hide ourselves.

“Please, we need help. Let the government help us. This is the only man (Jerry Onuokaibe) who can help us in this community as the Igwe. We don't need any other person.”

A former councillor and community stakeholder, Hon. Romanus Azubike Njoku, said Mburubu had always been peaceful until the tussle for the Igweship began.

“This Mburubu community has been very peaceful. There has been orderliness in everything they do,” Njoku said. 

According to him, “When it comes to Igweship, we have modalities and standards that were set in 1976 on how to elect the Igwe. 

“When our late Igwe died, we mourned him traditionally as he was supposed to be mourned. When the time expired, and it was time for us to get another Igwe, the procedure and process of getting that Igwe was followed, and we unanimously elected Igwe Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe.

“But some group of people led by Engr. Lawrence Ozoemenam Ezeh, the Honourable Commissioner of Enugu State, who had boasted that he would nominate or singlehandedly bring a new Igwe to this community, started disagreeing with us on the communal standards.

“Since then, he has been terrorising this community with his trained men.”

Njoku alleged that the commissioner took some youths to Rivers State for training. 

“He has taken some of our boys to Rivers State, and we were thinking that he had given them jobs, but what we saw on October 31 showed us that he went there to train them on how to kill and destroy us.

“Pictorial evidence are available to show that this guy has trained hoodlums to come and kill us. They came that day and vandalised things, maimed people, beat people to stupor, and they were shooting sporadically here from 7:00 in the evening till dawn.” 

He stressed, “Even the police and the DSS can attest to it. It is evident. And it is as if the government is not listening to us on what is going on here. We have been placing many requests to the government to come and help us.”

He insisted the community’s choice remained Onuokaibe, saying, “The community found Jerry Onuokaibe worthy of that election and selection. 

“We followed the process, went to our village square, where the community makes relevant decisions because anything we do there stands, and that was where everybody gathered: elders, chiefs, ozors, and that was where the decision was taken.”

Pleading for urgent government intervention, Njoku said, “So, we are pleading with the government to help us. 

“The majority always carry the vote, but in this community, Prince Lawrence Ezeh and his cohort are trying to make the minority carry the day while the majority will be treated as if they are not important.”

Additionally, one of the chiefs, Ezekwe Onwuka, echoed the testimonies of other residents of the community and the call for urgent intervention by the state government.

He said, “We are living in fear in this community because of a group of people. They have trained themselves to give us all types of molestation and intimidation.

“We are begging the government to come to our help. We nominated Jerry Onuokaibe for Igweship, but the people who don't want good things decided to annul the whole thing.

“We are begging the government to come to our help and give us the choice of the people, the choice of the Mburubu community, and the choice of the Mburubu community is Jerry Onuokaibe. We don't need any other person. He is qualified for that.”

As SaharaReporters briefly toured the community, destroyed homes and properties dotted several areas.

Protests rock the community with men, women, youths and even children calling for the intervention of the Governor Peter Mbah-led state government to quickly intervene.

They insist that they can never be cowed by the community into accepting another candidate other than their elected Jerry Onuokaibe as the monarch of the community.

Meanwhile, as of the time of filing this report, the commissioner had yet to respond to the message SaharaReporters sent to him for comments on the allegations. 

The Enugu state government has also not issued an official statement on the violence.

WATCH: Crisis In Enugu Community As Armed Thugs Hired By Commissioner Ezeh Brutalise Residents Over Leadership Tussle pic.twitter.com/hWcGyIdbw0

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) December 6, 2025