Police arrested and detained five men in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area on Wednesday for approaching and threatening a food vendor. According to eyewitness reports, the yet-to-be-identified men visited the vendor’s restaurant, were served food upon request, then refused to pay after they were done, questioning the woman on why she dared to open her restaurant on a day marked out as sit-at-home.
These five men had cultivated the habit of eating in restaurants and leaving without payment, using the sit-at-home order as a convenient excuse. According to the eyewitness, “After eating food of about N750 each, they stood up to leave upon which the woman requested for her money. They then informed her Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is in court and she’s opening her shop.”
The eyewitnesses also revealed that as the argument became heated one of the men brought out a knife and brandished it in the woman’s face, also threatening to pour her food if she continued to prove stubborn. But the vendor seized one of them by his shirt, told them they would leave only if they killed her, and then started screaming upon which people living nearby came out to see what was causing the fracas. The Anambra State Vigilante arrived a few minutes later and whisked the men away.
In a statement made to the press, the Spokesperson for Anambra State Command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga said that although there was no official report before them at the moment, he strongly urged the aggrieved food vendor to go to the nearest police station and make one. He explained that this would help the state command to identify the hoodlums and possibly charge.
In a further bid to calm tensions, Mr. Ikenga revealed that the state patrols would also be extended into the affected area and the situation would be closely monitored.
