ABAKALIKI, Nigeria — Francis Nwifuru has imposed a daily curfew on Amasiri following a renewed boundary crisis that authorities say left four people dead in Okporojọr Village, in Edda.
The curfew will run from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. each day — effectively restricting movement for 20 hours — while markets, shops, businesses, quarries and banks are also to close during the curfew period, the governor announced after an emergency meeting of the state security council at the government house in Abakaliki.
In a sweeping set of measures aimed at de-escalating the conflict, the state government ordered the immediate closure of all schools in Amasiri, including public and private institutions, and directed that teachers and tutors be redeployed to schools outside the affected communities. The governor said the decision was based on security advice and the need to prevent further violence.
The security council also recommended, and the government approved, the dethronement of traditional rulers in the Amasiri clan, alongside the dissolution of community leadership structures including development union executives, village heads, youth and women leaders, and peer groups.
As an interim governance step, the state directed that chairmen of four neighbouring local government areas should take over government activities in Amasiri “with immediate effect,” pending further stabilization.
The governor also said an executive bill had been prepared for transmission to the state assembly to repeal the law establishing the Amasiri Development Centre, effectively removing it from the state’s list of development centres.
Security agencies were instructed to “bring the culprits to book” and to recover the severed heads of victims, according to the governor’s statement.
