PRE-ELECTION VIOLENCE: Killers of Ebonyi man walk about free, flaunt political connections

The inauguration of a new government in Ebonyi State has re-opened the floodgate of tears in the Onu family of Uburu community in Ohaozara Loca Government Area of the state, whose 35-year-old son, Ifeanyi Onu was gruesomely murdered in the run-up to the governorship election.
Ifeanyi’s death brought so much grief not just for his immediate family, but for the whole Uburu community which just produced the new governor of the state. How­ever, months after his brutal killing, disturbing reports have it that his al­leged killers are strolling freely in the community without any fear of being apprehended.

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Their boldness has driven the family and their sympathizers in the community to accuse the police of complicity in the show of impunity.
As Sunday Sun gathered, the deceased belonged to a cult group, which before the governorship election became polarized into two groups, with each group supporting the two major political parties in the state.
A member of the community, Mr. Nicholas Onu, the administrator of UburuAmaka, a social media plat­form spoke with Sunday Sun about the incident. He expressed concern that such impunity if not checked could launch the community into more grievous security threats.
“Ifeanyi was a calm young man, though he belonged to the cult group that shot him on March 4, 2015. What led to the unfortunate death can be attributed to many factors, which can only be confirmed or collaborat­ed by a witness to the crime but for the attitude of the men of the Nige­rian police, no arrest of the key sus­pects has been made since March till date. Ifeanyi was shot as a result of politically induced supremacy battle between boys of Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“The incident started with the po­larization of a particular cult group along party lines (LP and PDP). If­eanyi belonged to the group support­ing LP and was a revenue collector for the government, which openly supported the Labour Party. The council gave him the job of revenue collection as a sort of political com­pensation. This fueled envy from the other group. Other financial benefits that his group was receiving further contributed to more rivalry over who should head the entire cult group,” Onu explained.
One fateful day, Ifeanyi had an al­tercation with the leader of the other group, whose name was given as In­nocent Igwe. The deceased later left the place after they were separated and went to a beer parlour.
“Innocent Igwe and a member of his group, one Igwe Nnanna lat­er came to the beer parlour that be­longed to one Obed of Umunaga Enuegu to abduct him. The group, which was sympathetic to PDP, beat him to an inch of his life. When If­eanyi’s group got the news, they initiated talks for truce. They made arrangements to meet at different locations but could not meet due to lack of trust. They eventually met at Ivuokwe in Amata Uburu.
“That was where they had the gun battle. Ifeanyi was already uncon­scious from the beatings and was sub­sequently shot during the exchange. Others sustained gunshot wounds also. The boys ran away immediate­ly they discovered that Ifeanyi was dead. Some youths from Umunaga went on protest, which turned vio­lent, resulting in the burning of shops and residences of parents of the boys involved. The police made no prime arrests as the main suspects ran away.
“The unfortunate thing that hap­pened was that the police did not make any meaningful effort to ar­rest these boys as some of them were seen in Abakaliki and later all returned home to participate in the elections. They have since started living a normal life in the community without the police or the community elders making any move to actually know the truth of what happened.
“Within the circle of the boys, Innocent Igwe is being alleged as the prime suspect in the killing of Ifeanyi. He was alleged to have shot somebody on December 31, 2013 and nothing was done. He was also alleged to have stabbed a policeman who later died. He has led campaign of destruction in the community and nothing happened. Our elders and stakeholders did nothing to show cause for justice in these other mat­ters. We are in a dangerous situation in the community as issues like this if not checked can set precedents for more destruction of lives and prop­erty. Many of our youths have been calling for justice, but nothing seems to be working yet.”
Meanwhile, speaking with Sun­day Sun, the elder brother to the de­ceased, Pastor Onyekaozuru said he has exhausted his meagre earnings on the matter, without any reasonable outcome for his family.
“Honestly, the police are not seri­ous with the investigation. Anytime I get information about the where­abouts of the suspects, I normally run to the police. And each time, they will tell me that they will go there, but they will not go. At the end of it all, they will not do anything. I have been spending my money on them and still nothing is working. The last time I went there, I told them that the boys were still hanging around the community. One of the policemen told me that the suspects were not all that free; that they want them to come home and relax and when they feel that they are free, they would be arrested. They asked me to do the au­topsy, which I have done.
“They are not serious about it. The way they are going, it seems to me that they are even working with those boys. I don’t know that for sure, but the way things are going, I don’t just understand. I decided to do the autopsy as directed by the police so that the case file of the death of my brother will remain open. The autop­sy confirmed that he was killed with a gun. It was after beating him that they shot him dead. I have spent so much. Sometimes, when they come around, I give them money, I buy them food, drinks, etc. I was doing all that just to help them do their duty, but still noth­ing,” the man said, sounding almost helpless.
While hoping that the police would get serious with then inves­tigation, the family is going ahead with preparations to bury the de­ceased on June 26, 2015, to atleast give the dead an honourable dis­patch.
Sunday Sun further sought to know from the community head, Eze Godwin Akpandu Okoro, what has been done so far on the incident and he said: “So far, what we have done is to forestall the occurrence of such in the future. Immediately the incident happened, we summoned the community and all of us gath­ered and discussed the way forward. At that meeting, we resolved to con­sult the ofo that our ancestors handed over to us. Everybody respects that ofo once it comes out. We consulted the ofo and made our prayers be­fore it. The prayer was to the intent that whosoever that would lift an object that can kill against a fellow Ubururian again the gods of our land should strike that person dead.
“But as for police investigations and justice, nothing has been done. Those who killed him, which every­body knows are still having their free movement in the community. I don’t know whether the law enforcement agents are still working with us or if they are just there receiving their salaries.
“As it stands, I am concerned about it. But we have this saying that the owner of the corpse will lift it by the head and then helpers will then assist by lifting the legs of the corpse. The family in question has to come up with any action, before the community can lend its support. We are still waiting for them,” the mon­arch said.
However, he expressed the view that the death of the young man was not politically motivated. He said: “But one thing I want to assure you is that it wasn’t politically motivat­ed. It was the issue of gangsters who wanted to assume the leadership of their gang. It was not related to the election at all. Their kingpin was arrested for a crime he committed. The police found him with a gun and he was arrested. According to the report, they have it as a rule that that their lord will not stay out of command for more than 24 hours. Once the time had elapsed, they were to elect another lord. It was in the course of electing a new lord that they had issues among themselves and shot themselves. Eventually that one died.”
When Sunday Sun contacted the Ebonyi State Police Public Re­lations Officer, Mr. Chris Anyanwu, he was unable to shed light on the state of investigations in the matter.
He chose to speak generally on how impossible it was for mur­der suspects to be moving freely without being arrested. “Nobody can say that a murder suspect was released. If someone is arrested for murder and is investigated, at the end of the day, if he is not found culpable, you cannot keep him per­petually in prison. You know that murder is not bailable, at least from our level. No police officer will re­lease a murder suspect. You know, sometimes, people will not tell you the truth. How can someone who killed another person be allowed to walk the street freely?”
Even when our reporter offered to allow him time to respond, his response was almost immediate and rather rash for an image maker: “My dear, if you want any informa­tion from me, it is better you come today. I have so many things to do. I don’t have time to be typing some­thing and sending emails. If you want to receive any information, you have to come in person. I don’t like talking to people unanimously. I deal with correspondents that I know. I know the guy who works for The Sun here. How am I sure you are the person you are claiming you are?”

- SundaySun

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