NNEWI UNDER ATTACK FROM ROBBERS

by Onyinye Okeke
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In the last four months, traders and business people along the Ibeto Avenue and Ambassador street, in Nnewi have constantly been terrorized by men of the underworld.

The shops at the Ambassador and Ibeto roads were seen to be under lock and key today, due to the robbery incidents that took place yesterday.

Anaedoonline.com gathered that two men reportedly came about 12 pm yesterday to demand money but the store owners had not sold anything. The two men reportedly said they will come back. By 4:00 pm the same day, the robbers reportedly returned with two extra guys making them four.

They demanded cash again, they were given money but the gang went further to collect mobile phones from the traders around there and took some stocks like shoes and clothes. On their way out they were accosted by the men of the Anambra Vigilante Group (AVG) in the area, two of them got away while the other two were caught.


Some of the traders were seen hanging around the locked shops in groups and the presence of heavy security personnel (police) was seen around the vicinity. The traders who are still living in fear said they will only speak to us anonymously and pled that no pictures of them should be taken.

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According to one of the victims, he said “when they come to your shop they use slangs like show me love or drop something. I gave them N1000 they refused, I gave them N1500, they refused, they brought out a gun, and started packing shoes into their bag and clothes. I don’t know whether they sell or wear it. They also took the phones I was charging there”.

The traders lamented that the robbers come to their shops daily, and in broad daylight. The traders complained of losses reaching millions when put together.

Another anonymous source said he was shot on his leg during one of the attacks last year.


“About eight hundred thousand was taken from me in December when they came to rob”, another victim said.

Anaedoonline.com asked why none of the traders reported to any security agencies, the traders said when it started it was minimal but as it continued, everyone became too scared to report to anyone.

An elderly woman who spoke said, “We were scared, no could report to the Police, we were scared they will kill us. They have shot some of our co-traders, and some of our customers have been robbed of their money and phones too’’.

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Another source explained that “They are a group of young boys who we fear to be a cultist, they come around daily especially in the morning and evening. They come here to collect the money that everyone around here makes. It seems they have a monitoring team that tells them when to come. Sometimes they come in a cluster like customers till you get inside to attend to them to only realize they are criminals. Sometimes they shoot guns in the air to scare people away during the robbery’’.

When Anaedoonline.com inquired about the Vigilante group who should be on guard in the area, the man said “the vigilante come and walk around in the morning then leave. When they leave is when the hoodlums invade the market. People trading here has been in fear. Some open in the morning and close by noon to avoid any attack from the robbers”.

The intervention of the vigilante group at the market yesterday brought a sigh of relief to the traders. They are pleading with the State Governor, Willie Obiano, to employ more security measures to prevent incidents like this from happening.

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