Parts of Owerri, Mbaitoli and surrounding areas in Imo state came under attack on Friday afternoon by gunmen enforcing the sit-at-home order.
The gunmen attacked at different locations and killed a policeman, Prince Iheme, the older brother of Nollywood superstar Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw.
The gunmen also hacked state Solid Minerals Commissioner Martin Eke with machetes.
Gunmen riding in the Trundra operational vehicles fired indiscriminately forcing people to run for safety.
While businesses abruptly closed, roads were left deserted as motorists abandoned their vehicles and fled.
In Orji, a community that shares the border with the state capital, black-clad gunmen in three vehicles attacked residents and passers-by, including police officers.
Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that the gunmen met policemen at the 7Up junction in Orji and shot dead a policeman.
He said: “Now a policeman has just been killed. They opened fire on them and shouted: ‘You have to stay at home. We have asked you to go home. Stay inside.'”
Another witness said: “I just escaped death now. They stopped in front of us and shot into the air and asked us to go home. They didn’t shoot us maybe because I was in the middle of some old women”.
Our correspondent also deduced that the fleeing gunmen fired repeatedly at the Nkwo Orji market before taking off for Okigwe Road.
In Ubommiri, in the Mbaitoli local government area of Imo state, gunmen attacked the convoy of the All Progressive Congress candidate for the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru federal constituency, Akarachi Amadi.
While Prince Iheme was killed on the spot, the state commissioner for Solid Minerals, Martin Eke, was hacked down with a machete.
An eyewitness who did not want to be named said: “This attack is politically motivated. We have just finished in a field concentration camp and were heading to Ubommiri. Our convoy was attacked at Amawuihe before Ubommiri.
“Prince Iheme was traveling in the same vehicle with the commissioner of solid minerals. Prince Iheme, who is Pawpaw’s older brother, was killed instantly. The commissioner who was sworn in two weeks ago suffered severe cuts. He has just been rushed to a hospital. They were in a Ford pickup. He prays that he makes it.”
The command’s police spokesman, Micheal Abattam, has yet to respond to a query about the incidents.