A new lease of life might have returned to the troubled Madallah town in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, barely one week after the murder of five Igbo businessmen in the community, as fleeing residents are now returning to their homes.The residents, mostly non-indigenes, were said to have fled the satellite community at the wake of the incident, over fears of being attacked by some alleged blood thirsty religious extremists that were said to have laid siege to the community.Last Thursday, around 7.00 p.m and 7.30pm, a two-man syndicate was said to have shot dead, five Igbo businessmen both at the market and near their residences over perceived inabilities to recite a portion of the Holy Quran.A visit by the Nigerian Tribune to the community, on Monday, revealed that the lives of the five Igbo businessmen, were allegedly cut short by the syndicate, who had accosted the victims, individually, at different locations and ordered them to recite some portions of the Holy Quran.Spokesman of the Niger State Police Command, Mr. Richard Adamu Oguche, confirmed the incident in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune.According to Oguche, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, the bodies of four of the victims had been identified by their relations. They were: Uche Ngueze, John Kalu, Sunday Emmanuel and Oliver Ezemah, adding that the bodies of the victims had been deposited at the mortuary of Suleja General Hospital for autopsy.The decision to deposit the corpses of the victims at the mortuary, according to Uguche, was with a view to ascertaining the immediate or remote causes of the death by the police. He said that the state police command was yet to ascertain whether there was argument between the fleeing hoodlums and the deceased.'In fact, we strongly suspect that the gangsters must have come to dispossess the victims of their money and other valuables . But so far, nothing has been reported stolen as investigation continues and in due course, we would be able to know the remote and immediate causes of their attacks,' Oguche said.He further assured that the matter was beyond the issue of religion as it was being peddled around by some sections of the community, stating that, the police were in control of the situation.Chairman, Igbo community in Madallah, Mr. Fortunatus Madu, said the five Igbo traders, were mere victims of circumstance.He also described as untrue, the rumour that the people of Igbo origin were allegedly being marked out for attack and extinction by the yet to be identified gangsters.Nigerian Tribune was also informed that the hoodlums, two in number, were said to have laid siege on the satellite town, predominantly a residential community on that fateful evening for obvious reasons. The hoodlums were said to have wielded two AK 47 rifles which they allegedly hung on their shoulders to harass innocent passersby on the streets, forcing them to recite a portion of the Quran.Madu, a native of Imo State, who had been living in Madallah for 25 years, said in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, that the five victims were not killed at the same spot, but at random and in different locations at the residential areas of the community.'Well, on the fateful evening, at about 7.00 p.m or thereabout, my daughter made a distress call to me on the telephone that two people had been felled by some gunmen because ithappened at the back of our house directly opposite Madallah hotel junction.'The corpses were five in number. Before she could finish the conversation with me, my wife also called for the same purpose and my family members were inside the house , they did not know what was happening , but some expelled bullets fell on top of our house,' he stated.Madu, who runs a chemist near Limousine Hotel, Madallah, said no sooner than he finished discussion with his wife that he hurriedly closed his shop and later observed that the streets that were beaming with life had been deserted as everyone scampered to safety.Thereafter, the community leader said he summoned the courage to come out again and trekked to the Madallah police station, which was about 500 meters away from his house and reported the incident. He was allegedly informed by the Divisional Police Officer, Mr Abdul Nurudeen, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, that a team of policemen had been dispatched to the scenes of the crime.He noted that the incident started from Madallah market, as the unknown gunmen were said to have combed the neighborhood communities which were mainly residential areas but the three other corpses were allegedly found by the police and members of the community.Speaking further, he said, 'the corpses were found in the same area but not at the market place as it was erroneously reported. One of the people they killed just came out of his house to urinate. His wife who was peeping through the window said she saw her husband being accosted by the gunmen to recite a portion of the Quran.'The victim, who was described as a relatively young man, knelt down and pleaded with his assailants that he was a Christian and as such, could not recite the said portion. He was shot dead at a close range.'Madu also disclosed that one of the victims got married on June 10, 2011 and that his wife, who put to bed a baby boy, had packed out of the town, the day after the death of her husband.'Another victim was said to have come out of his residence with the intention of going to buying fuel for his generator before he met his untimely death. I cannot avoid talking to newsmen because what happened here last weekend was a sad and pathetic issue.'In fact one other young man, whose parents were of Tiv and Yoruba background was a bit lucky because he was ordered to do the same thing and was able to recite that portion of the Quran and was allowed to go unscathed.'He, however, argued that the Igbo suffered much casualty because they were more in number at Madallah, compared with other ethnic groups like the Yoruba and the people of the South- South or even the middle belters among others.Though Madallah used to be very quiet in the past especially in the day time because it is mainly a residential area, the recent development has caused a lot of unrest within the community, the community leader maintained .
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