The Nigerian Navy on Friday night invaded an Ebonyi Community where a naval officer had gone missing last month.

The invasion followed painstaking investigation into the disappearance of the naval officer in Umuogodoakpu Mgbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area.

Governor David Umahi stated this during his weekly live broadcast briefing to the people of the state on Covid-19.

He said investigations revealed that the naval officer was killed and used for rituals by the people of the area with his head taken away by one of his killers.

The community has decades-long bloody land tussle with their neighbouring Agila Community in Benue State.

Hundreds of lives from both sides have been lost and all efforts by successive governments of both states to settle the dispute amicably have been unsuccessful.

It was gathered that the slain naval officer hailed from Benue State and his captors believed that he was from the neighbouring Agila community.

This made them to kill him in retaliation for recent deaths they have suffered from alleged attacks by the Agila people.

He was said to have been on the way to Benue State and planned going through Effium, another community in the local government that doesn’t have any boundary issue with Benue.

But in Mgbo community, he was captured and allegedly beheaded.

Umahi, during the broadcast, revealed that the military, during the invasion located and exhumed the remains of the naval officer

He said all those involved have been arrested following the raid by the military.

He vowed that they will all be charged to court to answer for their crimes.

According to him, one of the killers took the skull away after the rituals they performed with it.

He warned that his government will not tolerate murder of anybody.

“This is not an animal. This is not an ordinary person, we are talking about a naval officer, our people must begin to have respect for the sanctity of human live”, he said.

On the killing of a 70yrs old woman in a boundary tussle between Ohankwu in Ikwo Local Government and Amana Ezza South, the governor directed that the traditional ruler of the Ohankwu community and all political appointees from the community must be arrested.

He said they will remain behind bars until they provide the killers of the woman.

Umahi also announced a dusk to dawn curfew from 7pm to 7am in the state starting from today.