Survivor Narrates How Gunmen Turned Community Meeting to Bloodbath

A survivor of the recent massacre of Ebonyi indigenes in Ogboji, Anambra State, shared a harrowing account of how gunmen turned a peaceful community meeting into a bloodbath, killing at least eleven people and injuring many others.

Onuoha Godwin, a member of the Ebonyi State Welfare Association in Ogboji, narrowly escaped with his life after sustaining gunshot wounds to his hand and stomach. Speaking from his hospital bed, Godwin described the terrifying moment when armed men invaded their monthly meeting and opened fire indiscriminately.

A video of his testimony, delivered in his native dialect, has since gone viral on social media. Godwin, who hails from Inyimagu in the Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, recounted that the attackers struck as the group was about to conclude its general meeting.

“We used to hold our meetings twice a month. That day was the general meeting of the Ebonyi State Welfare Association in Ogboji,” he said, his voice faint but steady. “Towards evening, as we were about to close the meeting, some people carrying guns entered. We thought they were policemen coming for mass arrests. We didn’t realize they were on a mission to kill us.”

Godwin said the gunmen immediately asked for Augustine Odogwu, the Chairman of the Ogboji branch of the association, before ordering everyone to lie down. “The first thing they asked was, ‘Who is Augustine Odogwu?’ Then they ordered everybody to lie down,” Godwin recalled.

“They dragged me up and asked what meeting we were having. I told them it was the general meeting of Ebonyi indigenes. They said we were opposing them, and then they shot me,” he explained. After repeated threats and gunshots into the air, the gunmen forced him to identify Augustine, whom they then executed on the spot before shooting him again.

“They came to me again and said I had to show them Augustine or they would kill me. I pointed him out. They brought him out and shot him right there. Then they shot me again,” he said.