Three Months After Four Men Were Beheaded, Ebonyi Finally Ends Curfew on Amasiri

Published by Oravbiere Osayomore Promise. 

The Ebonyi State Government has announced the complete lifting of the controversial curfew imposed on the Amasiri community in Afikpo Local Government Area, exactly 94 days after a brutal land dispute between Amasiri and neighbouring Okporojo in Edda Local Government Area left four persons beheaded and threw the agricultural community into lockdown. The decision was announced on Monday, May 4, 2026, following a state security council meeting presided over by Governor Francis Nwifuru. The dawn-to-dusk curfew, which had severely restricted movement and shut down economic activities since February, was lifted 100 per cent, the government announced, with Director of the State Security Service, Mrs Eneh Kolawale, confirming that schools and hospitals would also be reopened immediately in the affected communities.

The violent crisis that triggered the sweeping security measures unfolded on January 29, 2026, when suspected armed persons from the Amasiri clan attacked Okporojo village in the Oso Edda community. Four residents were killed during the raid, with three of the victims reportedly beheaded, their heads allegedly taken away by the assailants as macabre trophies. More than nine houses were burned, and hundreds of villagers fled into the surrounding forests. Eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos, as families ran into the bush while their properties went up in flames. The Nzuko Edda General Assembly, the umbrella body of Edda communities, later disclosed that the area had lost over 75 persons since the crisis began three years ago, with dozens of homes burnt and entire villages displaced. At least four indigenes of Okporojo were brutally killed in their homes, with three of them beheaded, the organisation said in a February meeting. Amasiri, again, rejoiced home with the heads of three sons of Edda, perhaps as trophies they have won, the traditional ruler of Ebunwana Edda, Charles Azuenya, stated at an emergency meeting.

Governor Nwifuru reacted to the beheadings with fury, sacking all political appointees from Amasiri, including commissioners, dissolving the traditional leadership structures of the Amasiri clan, and dethroning traditional rulers Onyaidam Bassey and Godfrey Oko-Obia. The coordinator of the Amasiri Development Centre, Anya Baron-Ogbonnia, was also arrested alongside two monarchs and at least 10 other suspects in a joint security operation involving the police, the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. Schools, banks, markets, and churches were shut down, and civil servants of Amasiri origin were reportedly dismissed from their posts. The governor described the beheadings as an act of brutality that he never expected to occur in the state. The community was plunged into a state of siege. By early February, the Amasiri community had filed a petition before the International Criminal Court at The Hague, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, among others, accusing Governor Nwifuru of ordering a military operation during which soldiers carried out extrajudicial killings, destroyed homes, looted property, removed ancestral artifacts, and shut down schools, preventing children from registering for national examinations. The petition, signed by lawyer Maduabuchi Idam, alleged that the governor’s actions constituted crimes against humanity. Nigeria’s government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was also called upon to intervene and prevent a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe.

Monday’s lifting of the curfew came after what the government described as fruitful engagements with stakeholders, security authorities, and community leaders from both sides. The DSS Director, Mrs Eneh Kolawale, revealed that security personnel would maintain a minimal presence in the area to sustain the fragile peace, warning that suspects still at large would soon be declared wanted. Those involved in the crime who are yet to be apprehended will soon be declared wanted, Kolawale said. The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Justice Ben Odoh, explained that the decision followed several letters of remorse written by the people of Amasiri and accepted by the people of Okporojo Village. The communities showed genuine remorse, Odoh said, adding that the letters were submitted through the traditional leadership of Amasiri, assuring the government of their commitment to peace.

In a related development, the government reversed its earlier plan to delist the Amasiri Development Centre from the state’s 64 development centres. Odoh disclosed that appeals from the founding fathers and the council of elders influenced the government’s decision to reject the bill seeking to abolish the centre. The state government has rejected the bill and communicated its position to the State House of Assembly in the interest of justice, Odoh said. Amasiri Development Centre remains, and we still have 64 development centres in the state. The Head of Service, Mrs Rita Mary Okoro, confirmed that arrangements were underway to fully restore activities in the area, including the reopening of schools and health facilities. She said directives would be issued to the ministries of education and health, as well as the Local Government Service Commission, to return staff previously redeployed from the development centre back to their duty posts.

However, not everyone welcomed the lifting of the curfew with jubilation. Activist lawyer Maduabuchi Idam, who represents the Amasiri community in the international petition, issued a statement on Monday insisting that residents had nothing to celebrate. He said the reversal of the curfew was only a grudging concession by the government and would not halt the legal action already instituted against the state. The reported lifting of the vindictive curfew imposed on Amasiri does not call for celebration, Idam said in a statement shared with newsmen. As I stated some hours ago, there is nothing to jubilate about, as the measures were unwarranted and unprovoked ab initio. Idam demanded that the state government pay compensation for what he called the extrajudicial killings carried out by the joint security operation, as well as for the harm, pain, and psychological distress inflicted on innocent members of the Amasiri community. He also demanded the reconstruction of properties destroyed in the course of enforcing the governor’s directive. The power of the state exists to protect, not to victimise, he said. This injustice must not go unatoned.

Irrespective of the differing perspectives, the end of the lockdown has triggered a cautious return to normalcy in Amasiri. For three months, the community had been unable to bury its dead properly, send its children to school, or sell its farm produce at local markets. As the sun set on Monday, the army checkpoints that once punctuated the roads leading into Amasiri remained in place but no longer barred movement. The government has promised to sustain the new momentum, with the Commissioner for Information, Ikeuwa Omebe, assuring that the state would remain alive to its duty of protecting lives and property. They must ensure that the peace that has been purchased at such a high price does not slip away again.

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