The Nigerian Army has clarified that its ongoing security operation in Amasiri community, Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, is a joint effort to protect residents and combat criminal elements, not an invasion as suggested in some social media videos.
The statement, signed by Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations for 82 Division, Lieutenant Colonel Olabisi Ayeni, and shared via the Nigerian Army’s X handle on Sunday, was issued in response to videos featuring journalists criticising troop deployment in the area.
According to the Army, troops were deployed following the killing and beheading of four individuals in Okporojo village, Edda Local Government Area, and the discovery of shallow graves containing mutilated bodies in Amasiri.
“These atrocities demanded urgent intervention to restore peace, protect innocent lives, and bring perpetrators to justice.
“The Ebonyi State Government, in line with its constitutional responsibility to safeguard lives and property, therefore imposed a curfew and temporarily closed schools in Amasiri to prevent escalation and ensure public safety.
“The security agencies were deployed to enforce the curfew, ensure uninterrupted investigations and security operations, protect medical teams, and manage the humanitarian implications of the crisis,” the statement read.
Ayeni added that the operation involves joint teams from the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police, Department of State Security, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
He said the teams have been conducting intelligence-led patrols, cordon-and-search operations, and forensic exhumations of multiple burial sites, including graves of adults and children.
“It is important to stress that the deployment of troops is not targeted at the people of Amasiri but at criminal elements exploiting communal tensions to perpetrate heinous crimes.
“The operation is intelligence-led, professional, and conducted in partnership with local leadership to ensure transparency and accountability,” he added.
The Army reiterated its commitment to protecting all citizens without bias and said the intervention would continue until peace is fully restored, perpetrators are apprehended, and justice is served.
It urged the public to disregard misinformation and support ongoing efforts to secure Afikpo North and neighbouring communities.
Land dispute and violence
Amasiri and the neighbouring Oso Edda community in Edda LGA have been embroiled in a decades-long dispute over ancestral land.
Some Amasiri residents claim the land rightfully belongs to them, alleging that Oso Edda settlers have encroached over decades.
The crisis intensified on January 29, 2026, when suspected assailants from Amasiri allegedly attacked Okporojo village in Oso Edda, beheading four residents—including traditional rulers—and setting several homes ablaze.
The attack was described as retaliatory, with both communities accusing each other of initiating aggression in a conflict that has simmered for years.
In response, Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, imposed a 20-hour curfew on Amasiri, closed schools, and dissolved the community’s entire leadership structure.
He also sacked all government appointees from Amasiri, deposed traditional rulers, and the police arrested key suspects, including the Amasiri Development Centre coordinator, Anya Baron-Ogbonnia, and two monarchs.
However, Amasiri residents and community leaders have protested what they perceive as a one-sided crackdown favouring Edda.
They accused the governor of bias, citing his familial ties—his mother-in-law reportedly hails from Edda—and alleged political grudges, including claims that Amasiri did not vote for him in previous elections.
But the governor’s office defended the measures as necessary to restore peace after a breach of a prior accord, emphasising the need to prevent further bloodshed.
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