President Muhammadu Buhari, has given approval to the return of the open grazing practised during the 1st Republic where herdsmen used designated grazing routes to move their cattle to several parts of the country.
To this end, the President said he had asked the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to begin the process of recovering land from persons who have converted cattle grazing routes for their personal use.Buhari said this during an interview with Arise Television which was aired on Thursday.
The President said the grazing routes were designated in the 1st Republic when “Nigerians use to obey laws” but those routes had been converted.
Buhari was reacting to a question on the decision by 17 southern governors to ban open grazing.
The AGF had kicked against the declaration by the governors, adding that it was like northern governors banning spare part trading, a job that is synonymous with southerners.
When asked if he agreed with the AGF’s position, Buhari laughingly responded, “You want me to contradict my attorney-general?”
Explaining further, he said, “What I did was ask him to go and dig the gazette of the 1st Republic when people were obeying laws. There were cattle routes and grazing areas. Cattle routes were for when they (herdsmen) are moving up country, north to south or east to west, they had to go through there.“If you allow your cattle to stray into any farm, you are arrested. The farmer is invited to submit his claims.
The khadi or the judge will say pay this amount and if you can’t the cattle is sold. And if there is any benefit, you are given and people were behaving themselves and in the grazing areas, they built dams, put windmills in some places there were even veterinary departments so that the herders are limited. Their route is known, their grazing area is known.
But I am telling you, this rushing to the centre (sic) so I asked for the gazette to make sure that those who encroached on these cattle routes and grazing areas will be dispossessed in law and try to bring some order back into the cattle grazing.”
He also lamented the style and utterances of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who had not only implemented an aggressive anti-open grazing law but had accused Buhari of failing to take actions against herdsmen because he is also a member of the Fulani herders.
Buhari said indeed, he is a Fulani man but Ortom was being unfair to him. He said he had told Ortom that the herdsmen perpetrating the attacks are not the Nigerian ones.
The President further explained that the Tivs, which form the majority in Benue, and the Fulanis had been engaged in cultural conflicts for a long time.
He added, “The problem is trying to understand the culture of the cattle rearers. There is a cultural difference between the Tivs and the Fulanis. So, the governor of Benue said I am not disciplining the cattle rearers because I am one of them.
“I cannot say I am not one of them but he is being very unfair to me and I told him that the Nigerian cattle rearer was not carrying anything more than a stick sometime with a machete to cut some trees and feed his cattle but those sophisticated ones move with AK 47.
“So, from other areas, people rush to Nigeria you know and Fulanis from Mauritania and Central Africa look the same so they feel they are the Nigerian ones and I assure you that we are trying to resuscitate these cattle routes, grazing areas and make them accountable.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged governors to stop waiting for him to solve every problem for them, saying they should stop attacks by herdsmen in their states.
Many states have been experiencing deadly attacks on agrarian communities by Fulani herdsmen, putting pressure on the President as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces with the power to control the country’s centralised security system.
Also Buhari being a Fulani, many Nigerians have accused him of bias and lacking the political will to curb attacks by the nomadic herdsmen, who are also largely Fulani.
But Buhari in an interview with Arise TV on Thursday, recalled two South-West governors recently visited him to complain about encroachment by herdsmen on farmlands in their states.
Describing it as a threat to food security, Buhari said, “You know these people more than I do, and you are democratically elected to protect your people. Don’t sit idly expecting me to do everything, take action.
In this interview with Professor Jideofor Adibe and The News Chronicle (TNC), National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC, Barr. Festus Okoye harped on the commission’s preparation for the November 6 2021 Anambra governorship election.
JA/TNC: Thank you for granting us an audience: First, I will want you to explain to readers INEC’s preparations for the Anambra State governorship election which has been slated for November this year. In particular, I will like you to explain your readiness in terms of voter registration, logistics, voter education, security and protecting the votes.
BFO: Well, you know the Anambra governorship election is one of the off-season elections we have in the country. The tenure of the current governor will expire on the 17th day of March 2022 and by the provision of section 170 subsection 2 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the earliest date we can conduct that particular election is October 18, 2021, and the latest date is February 15, 2022. So it is on this basis that we started preparations early and we have released the timetable and schedule of activities for the election. The primaries for all the political parties will commence on the 8th day of June 2021 and also end on the 1st day of July 2021.
Based on the law and also based on our own processes and procedures we are going to send monitors to go and monitor those primaries as part of our constitutional responsibilities. Also, by the provisions of section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), all political parties are required to conduct either direct or indirect party primaries. If you are going to conduct direct party primaries, all registered members of the party are going to vote in the primaries. If you are going to conduct indirect primaries, you are going to base it on a delegate system.
Section 87 of the Electoral Act makes it very clear that only candidates that emerge from valid party primaries are qualified to be submitted to the Commission. What the Commission will do invariably is that after the conduct of these party primary elections, the Commission will give an access code to the national chairman and national secretary of all the parties that conducted primaries, who then will use these access codes to submit the list and particulars of the validly nominated party candidates to the INEC.
As at present that is where we are. So in the coming weeks, we are going to send out monitors to these party primary elections. Most of the parties have given us indications of when they are going to conduct the primaries.
JA/TNC: What of the voter registration- or revalidating the earlier registration, where are we in that exercise?
BFO: This Commission has done what no other Commission has done before. For 25 years the number of polling units in Nigeria remained at 119,973. The last polling units were created in 1996. So for 25 years, we didn’t add even a single polling unit. What this Commission has done was that we decided that it was in the national interest and electoral process and democracy to break the jinx. Based on this expansion, we are going to have additional polling units in Anambra. The state currently has a total number of 5,720 polling units; we are going to add 1,102 polling units.
The next stage of what we are going to do is to conduct continuous voter registration exercise which we have slated to begin on the 28th day of June this year.
We are going to deploy additional registration equipment and extra officials to go and conduct voters’ registration in Anambra.
JA/TNC: You did mention monitoring the party primaries and that most of them are starting around June. We do know about the state of insecurity in the state, in which security agencies and even INEC itself are all targets of those who have come to be known as ‘unknown gunmen’. How feasible do you think these party primaries will be and INEC monitoring in this wave of insecurity? Another thing is that in the current spate of insecurity or what some call the ‘Somalisation of Southeast’, what specific measures are being taken by INEC to ensure that scheduled elections are held and those who go to vote are assured of being protected?
BFO: As you are aware, the office of INEC in Anambra was attacked on the 3rd day of May 2021. In that particular attack, we lost a total of 376 generating set; we also lost 7 utility vehicles and 50% of the non-sensitive materials for the Anambra elections.
Now in the context of the insecurity challenges going on, we have stated that it may be difficult to do the continuous voter registration in the manner we have designed. What is going to happen therefore is that this commission will decide in the next few weeks on the methodology and mechanism for rolling out the CVR.,
1, The first step is that there will be a dedicated online portal where people who are internet savvy, who have laptops and other gadgets can log in and begin their registration. The second stage is that such people can go to our registration centers or local government offices to complete their biometrics.
In terms of the general insecurity we have in Anambra, what we intend to do is to engage all the stakeholders in the place – the political parties, traditional and religious leaders, civil servants and also with the media – and explain to them the importance of the exercise, and, the importance of not disrupting the electoral process because the consequences of such disruptions will be very great.
JA/TNC: So, are we suggesting that INEC is not contemplating rescheduling the primaries, given the state of insecurity in the state?
BFO: No, we are not contemplating shifting the primaries as of now, and no political party has suggested that we should shift the party primaries. Governorship elections are constitutionally circumscribed, and section 178 subsection 2 of the constitution has given a window within which we must conduct the election, and this particular window is fixed, static and cast in stone.
JA/TNC: So even if the insecurity escalates, such that there is a total breakdown of law and order in the Southeast, the election will still go ahead?
BFO: The truth of the matter is that the governor of Anambra State must leave office on the 17th day of March 2022. He does not need any letter of termination to leave office. If for any reason the Commission is unable to conduct the election, there are only 3 possible scenarios available:
The first is, under section 180 subsections 3 of the constitution, the president, acting with the National Assembly, can extend the tenure of an incumbent by 6 months in the first instance if the nation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically attacked.
The second one is for the speaker of the State House of Assembly to take over. The third option is that the president can declare a state of emergency and then through a proclamation decide what will happen.
JA/TNC: The late Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana said “seek ye first the political kingdom and everything else will be added unto you”. Nigerian politicians or Nigerians generally seem to take this literally such that politics becomes anarchical or winner takes it all, in which politics is seen as a major means of prosecution. Based on this, I will like you to rank the challenges facing INEC: we know that in this country there is no institution that is regarded as being truly independent, including the INEC; there also the issue of what some people call ‘stomach infrastructure’ determining how people vote; you also have problems of political thugs, insecurity, compromised INEC officials, judicial rascality (where it is believed that some apparently ‘elected’ governors or members of the legislatures owe their offices to judicial judgments etc.
BFO: One of the things INEC has done is to reduce as much as possible, the human element in the electoral process. That’s why the Commission is deeply committed to using technology in the electoral process. Before now, when political parties complete their primaries, they bring the list of their candidates and their particulars in ‘Ghana must go’, trucks and so forth, flooding the Commission. Sometimes there are scuffles as different levels of the party come with their own list; this Commission has done away with the ghost of that scenario. What we now do is that the moment they complete their primaries, we give them access code, and this code is given only to the national chairman and the national secretary of the political party, who will now upload details of their candidates to a portal dedicated to party nomination processes, so we no longer have any direct contact with the political parties. We set up a helpline, if any of the political parties is having trouble logging in, they call in and we tell them what to do.
The second is that both the media and civil society organizations can now apply for accreditation online so we don’t have any direct contact with them anymore.
The third is to make sure we have INEC result viewing portal. So our officials at polling centers can upload results as they come in, and anyone who logs in online can see the results in real-time. So the issue of changing results from the polling unit to the collation center no longer arises.
Nigerian politicians have their own challenges, sometimes we prepare well, but no matter how you prepare, if the environment at the polling unit is not conducive, there is very little you can do. The do-or-die politics of our political elites in the country also create its own challenges, because we use peoples’ sons and daughters for these elections, and the moment harm befalls them, it creates problems. Another thing is, some of our polling units are in unimaginable places.
JA/TNC: You are a well-respected human rights lawyer before your appointment, and as you are aware I am also a critic of INEC. I recall that we had that Channels TV interview in which I was critical of the conduct of INEC in the 2019 election. I understand that there are security issues that may be beyond your control, but now, what about the internal lapses, like the payment of Corps members, how are you resolving this recurring decimal?
BFO: The Commission has a memorandum of understanding with the NYSC, and what we do is that once we determine the number of people needed for the conduct of election, say in an area, we meet NYSC and harvest the names of the Corps members that are available. We also collect their phone numbers and account numbers, because we don’t handle cash, so once the elections are over, those phone and account numbers are handed over to the appropriate authorities for payment.
But like with other things in this country, some people will be trained for the election, but on Election Day, they may decide to hand over the duty to others, with different names, , so when it’s time for payment, the CBN has names and account numbers that do not match. We have made arrangements with the NYSC directorate that only names of serving Corps members should be given to us, and in a case where it is not enough, we should get the names of those who graduated in not more than a year before.
JA/TNC: People talk about stomach infrastructure and how it undermines politics of principle. From what I have been reading, some people say it is mere economic rationality by voters because after the politicians are voted into office, the voters rarely see them again, n, so the voters want to get what they can at the moment. We had a funny incident in one of the gubernatorial elections where one political party was offering a plate of jollof rice to voters in addition to some cash for those who voted for them and showed them that they did so. When the main rival political party discovered this, it decided to add extra meat to their own offer of jollof rice, another party upped the game by offering more quantity of the jollof rice, two pieces of meat and some cash. What do you think will be a way out of this vote trading?
BFO: As an electoral management body, we have been dealing with these issues. Sometimes people go and vote after which they show their vote to some persons who then pay them.
We even banned the use of cell phones at the voting cubicle but it didn’t work as those involved in the buying and selling of votes changed tactics. There are few saints in the business of buying and selling of votes.
These are very serious issues and I believe a new electoral amendment should address such issues. I believe that the moment people start voting electronically, it will be difficult for vote buyers and sellers to be in business.. Before most of the vote traders were middlemen, but the politicians discovered that what gets to the polling unit for vote-buying is not actually what they have provided, so they decided to take the loot to the polling unit to do business there.
The Commission is working assiduously to make sure that the votes of the people count.
The president said this during an interview with Arise TV broadcast on Thursday.
Asked what is he is doing to bring direct investments into the country, Buhari recalled what he told the national executive council after the #EndSARS protests, while noting how the protests made the country insecure for investors.
Buhari said no investor will invest in an insecure environment, adding that those with good degrees will die of hunger if there are no jobs.
The president made reference to the BRT buses that were razed by hoodlums during the #EndSARS protests in Lagos, saying investors will not invest in an unstable environment.
“Well, the question was answered when there was #EndSARS. You remember the ‘end’ people, who wanted to march here and remove me,” Buhari said.
“My answer to that, I got the members of the executive council and said each one should go to his state, speak to the governor, speak to the traditional leaders, speak to the business people, and speak to especially the youths and tell them that there’s no more vacancy in the federal government.
Go to any governor now and ask him to give you contract or to give you a job, he’ll tell you there’s no vacancy. The same thing with the local government. So, you may have a good degree, but you may die without having a job. Why?
“Because nobody is going to invest in an insecure environment. So I told them to tell the youth that if they want jobs, they will behave themselves, make sure Nigeria is secure, so people can come and invest.
“Look at the 200 buses bought by the former governor of Lagos, some of these boys went and burnt the vehicles. Who will go and invest their money in an unstable environment? Nobody will.
“It’s just common sense. So you behave yourself, you make Nigeria secure, and people will invest.”
We need thinkers in political power ! We need thinkers in Government at all levels . Africa underdevelopment is simply because of lack of political Leadership! A friend of mine that works with international development Bank told me how international funding is being diverted to Ghana and Rwanda . That no serious minded international investor considers Nigeria for investment of any kind. The reason is obvious ! Most of our political office holders are pursuing personal interest. Nigeria Political Leaders are not thinking of building enduring public institutions. That is why we have found it difficult to provide ordinary potable water for the public yet millions are jobless.
A Governor who is thinking how to build a modern city would not have time to engage in frivolities. A Governor who is thinking how to solve macroeconomic problems like unemployment, unequitable distribution of our scarce resources etc will not have time to gossip around !
Many people have opined that Government does not manage business concern . That businesses should be handed over to private interest .I disagree ! Responsible Government must set up a system to protect the interest of the weak in the society . Government must show the way . Government must moderate the market forces to checkmate the exploitative tendencies of capitalist individuals . Government must be involved in the management of public goods such as electricity, water ,transportation ,food production, health care delivery, education ,science and technology etc.
I know that Anambra State Government has quality human resources to manage Anambra Airport newly built by Gov Obiano administration .Government should invest in energy ,in affordable housing and many other areas to improve the quality of lives. Their should be a deliberate action plan to build incentive system in public activities as well as appropriate sanction to system defaulters . Our rich value system must be restored . We have to identify and encourage very few good men and women to move into government to save our children generation.
Ndubuisi Anaenugwu is the Deputy Leader of Good Governance Ministry
Dr Mustapha Gulak is the first son of Ahmed Gulak, the slain All Progressives Congress chieftain and former political adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan has cleared the air on the alleged N10bn reward owed his father by the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma.
In an interview with our Reporter ,he stated that the alleged N10bn reward due to his father from Governor Hope Uzodinma is a conspiracy theory
The medical practitioner said: “The issue of people saying he helped Hope to become governor and all that is nonsense. Primaries were conducted and Hope won the primaries. So, all this talk by people, who come on board to say he helped Uzodimma to become governor, is just talking.
“Primaries happened and Hope won. The story about the deal with Hope, I read it on the pages of newspapers that he promised him N10bn and he wasn’t going to fulfil it. I believe it is a conspiracy. I can swear by my faith that had it been that there was such a deal between my dad and Hope, I will know about it.”
Speaking if the relationship that existed between his father and Imo State Governor cost him (His Father) his life, junior Gulak said:
“Well, I don’t want to attribute my father’s murder to politics despite people saying it was political. His killing was purely an assassination. At the same time, to respect my father’s memory, I wouldn’t want to say his friendship with Governor Hope Uzodimma or his association with the southern part of the country cost him his life. God had destined that my father would not exceed the 30th of May, 2021.”
Dr. Mustapha also said that his father never entertained any fear visiting the South Eastern part of the country as he sees them as family.
“There was this connection he had with the southern part of the country; he took people from that part as brothers. I can tell you that he had a lot of friends from there; he visited there comfortably. For him, he didn’t have the insecurities, the way an average northerner feel when going to the South.
“My father travelled across Nigeria comfortably; he didn’t see the need to get a security escort attached to him when on such trips.”
It also estimated that the life expectancy for Nigerian men is 54 and that of women, 56.
In 2020, the UN estimated Nigeria’s population to be 206.1 million and put the life expectancy at 55 years.
The new figures are in the UNFPA’s ‘State of the World Population 2021’ report.
The report was launched by Ulla Muella, UNFPA country representative; Pauline Tallen, minister of women affairs, and Nasir Kwara, chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to the UNFPA report, Nigeria’s population increased by 2.6 percent from 2015 to 2021.
It also said Nigerians aged 15-64 are of the highest population in the country making up 53.9 percent, followed by those aged 0-14 with 43.3 percent and those aged 10-24, 32 percent.
It said Nigerians aged 10-19 make up 23.2 percent of the population while those aged 65 and above are just 2.8 percent of the population.
In December 2020, the NPC announced that Nigeria’s population is estimated to be 206 million.
Speaking on Tuesday during a press conference, Kwarra, who was represented by Abubakar Danburam, the NPC federal commissioner in Gombe State, said a population census may be conducted in 2022.
He said the commission had so far completed demarcation in over 600 local government areas out of the 774 in the country and will suggest a census to President Muhammadu Buhari once the process is complete.
It is within the purview of the President; we can’t precisely say this is the date. However, we are embarking on pre-census activities,” he said.
“These are the efforts we are making in view of the fact that census is absolutely necessary. We are on the verge of completing pre census, maybe in the next one year. We will suggest a date to Mr President and we are targeting maybe 2022.”
The last population census in Nigeria was conducted in 2006.
I am eternally grateful to my Client, my brother and friend Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the Supreme Leader of the World’s largest freedom movement, (IPOB) whose prompt intervention using all available platforms to proactively stopped the danger staring on my face at that point in time, and when it mattered most.
I also wish to thank the members of this noble movement/FAmily for standing tall and proactively too when it mattered most in my life. Daalu nu Umuchineke.
I must deeply appreciate the untiring efforts of my Client, friend and in-law, Chief Femi Fani Kayode for defying sleep at that wee hours of the night when he got the SOS from me, to alert the World and those that mattered on the bloody attack/invasion of my peaceful home by those whose primary duty is to secure lives and properties. He has remained consistent in updating the World on developments so far. I can’t thank you enough Sir.
I want to specially thank my people of good conscience, particularly the members of my noble Association (NBA), the erudite President of the Bar (Mr. Olumide Apata) who was consistently checking on me and keeping touch at the hit of this turbulent hours.
My thanks also goes to our indefatigable Chairman of the NBA Abuja Branch (Mr. Bulus Atsen) who was relentless in his bid to ensure that truth is not swept under the carpet. He is more than a brother. I will not forget to appreciate my own brother and friend , who has always been with me in defending this noble Family -Bar Nnaemeka Ejiofor.
Contributions of the Inter-Society, and Civil liberty Organization Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria, Ably led by my brother and friend, the fearless Chief Emeka Umeagbalisi, in raising the first alert/security concerns on the safety of my life cannot be overemphasised. He has always been there for me anytime anyday, I cannot thank him enough.
The members of the print, social and television space who widely reported and in one accord roundly condenmed this crime against humanity are deeply appreciated.
Very unfortunately, the well planned premeditated attack on my ancestral home resulted in the brutal murder of my long standing personal Aid (Mr. Samuel Okoro aka Gentle Biggy), who was shot and consequently injected with lethal substance before being set ablaze in my car, which the demons in uniforms made away with on this black Sunday, 6th June 2021, and I say, may your death never go in vain. Avenge your death from wherever part of the heaven you may be. Be assured that your death can never be in vain.
*BACKGROUND*
This press statement will be as brief as it can, because it is scheduled to come in batches with development of time. But, be assured that I have more than enough evidence to demonstrate to the World that the uniformed invaders/assailants actually came to assasinate me and every living object in my ancestral home, *unprovoked* for the second time in less than two years, in the wee hours of Sunday, 6th June 2021.
I had waited for 24 hours for those that invaded my home to tell the world their true mission to my peaceful residential home in Umunakwa Ifite, Oraifite, Ekwusigo LGA of Anambra State, but nothing is forthcoming. Hence, mine will be coming in stages as I had assured.
I have always been more frequent at home for the past few months, not because I was coming for any special ceremony but discussions on achieving lasting peace in our region, which process had yielded appreciable success/results.
Ostensibly offering solutions for lasting peace which Sheik Gunmi who is effectively but brazenly aiding, abetting and benefiting from the proceeds of heinous activities of Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen and bandits cannot offer, but still protected by Security Agents of the state.
These meetings have always been to the knowledge and commendation of all Relevant stakeholders whom I may not mention in this part of my press statement.
Interestingly, the now late Mr. Samuel Okoro who was my personal Assistant had always been with me. I risked my life, abandoned my lovely family to travel home more often because of my desire for a total peace that will bring to an end, the entire hostilities in our region.
Upon my return home on Saturday, 5th June 2021, I was informed that the Catholic Arch Bishop of Onitsha Province (Most Rev. Valerian Okeke) wanted to see me in a meeting which I thought would be a private one.
I honored this invitation where His Grace raised a number of pertinent issues and consequently, commended me for my untiring efforts toward achieving peace in our region. His Grace prayed for me and equally offered further useful advise. We agreed for a formal meeting where major stakeholders will be notified and equally be represented. I left the Bishop’s court, but not until His Grace blessed me for the umpteenth time, and prayed for me and my friend who was in my company.
I drove back home in my red Toyota Car, the same car the criminals in Security Uniforms stole from my house during their bloody invasion/attack on my home, and inside the same car my PA and car itself were set ablaze.
I have no doubt in my mind that His Grace will be distraught to hear that the very fine gentleman (Mr. Samuel Okoro) he prayed for on Saturday was brutally murdered by agents of darkness, in less than seven hours after visiting him.
Due to traffic situation in Onitsha at that time of the day we left the Bishop’s court, we spent hours trying to manover the traffic and got home eventually at about 8.30PM in the night. I was gravely worn out after a long journey and decided to shower and sleep, in preparation for another meeting coming up the following morning at 10:00AM.
I was in deep sleep when the demons struck. The barking of my security dogs and sounds of gun in and around my home could simply tell me that there is danger and unusual movement in my peaceful home.
Initially, I couldn’t fathom what the problem could be but what I know and can tell the public on this part of my press release is that they will hear it all with impeccable evidence to demonstrate the atrocities that was committed in my peaceful home by paid agents of darkness.
I saw as it all happened, it was like a movie. I saw and overheard them directing my domestic staff who never resisted them in any manner to take them upstairs where their Oga was sleeping at the time, but my staff kept on telling them that “Oga is not in this house”. Shooting and heavy beating were simultaneously going on, the time was 2:30 AM in the morning. I saw Biggie on the ground being beaten and shot at, before somebody, presumably a Medical Doctor in their company, injected him with what I believe to be a lethal substance.
The lifeless body of Biggie was dragged on the floor of my compound to my parked car. My driver who apparently was in possessions of my car keys at the time was ordered at gunpoint to produce to open the booth of the car where his body was dumped.
Efforts by these band of murderers to access where I had hidden in order to finish the job for which they came proved abortive as they couldn’t breach the multiple bullet proof doors leading to where I took refuge. The Native Doctor they brought along with them, was armed with all sorts of charms and he was busy making incantations and directing them to where he felt I was.
Midway into their murderous invasion of my home, their search for me was suddenly stopped and they consequently vanished with my harmless and innocent staff they abducted including the lifeless body of Biggie. These evil men left my house around 3:45 AM having killed, vandalized and terrorized my household for over an hour and 15 minutes.
They stole my car and left my home along with over 15 Hilux Vans, Toyota Hiace buses and Armored Personnel Carrier, they came with. On getting to Okacha filling station in Neni, they dragged out my elder brother Mr. Joel Ejiofor who was equally abducted during the invasion and directed him to disappear from their sight.
It was after my brother left, that my car was set ablaze with Mr. Samuel Okoro inside the car. He was not only killed by these soulless beasts, his body was burnt beyond recognition. I wish to ask that directed this criminal and deadly invasion of my house, to tell me what crime Samuel Okoro committed.
For the records, late Mr. Samuel Okoro hailed from Ebonyi State and has been with me for the past four years. He was a brother, a dependable friend and a refined gentlemen. I will forever miss him.
While struggling to control myself at this point in time, I am indeed broken and traumatized, not that I committed any offence known to law or that Samuel Okoro even did anything wrong, but because he was murdered in the most bizarre, barbaric, brutal and heinous manner.
For the records, I have been the General counsel to IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu since 2015. Illegal Proscription of IPOB is a subject of Appeal and further pronouncement hasn’t been made on that by a superior court of records.
It will shock you to know that the average Igbo man is a member of IPOB by position of birth. I will discuss this topic in detail in the next batch of my press statement.
The questions begging for answers which I want the invaders to answer are:
1) Who sent them to my ancestral home because they carefully monitored me until I moved in on that fateful day?
2) I spent virtually a week in Abuja before returning home, why didn’t they arrest me in Abuja where I live or even invite me to appear before them for questioning if I was being investigated for committing any offence?
3) Why my home for the second time?
4. Why me?
5. Who funded this bloody exercise? Who is actually after my life?
4) Why the invasion of the residence of a Senior member of the Bar at such an ungodly hour of the night?
From what I gathered, the sinister purpose is clear, the directive is clear, arrest him alive or dead and burn him alive. I will give further details on this subsequently.
Can we take it that some elements who are hugely benefiting from the hostilities in our region is after my life, apparently they are enjoying the present genocide going on in the South East which my intervention was designed to curtail?
Interestingly the Anambra State Police Commissioner confirmed to me that he was never aware of the operation. How did these killers in army and police uniform drive all the way from Abuja to Anambra to unleash mayhem without notifying the CP of the state?
I therefore, demand for the immediate and UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE of my domestic staff abducted from my home during this unprovoked attack.
Furthermore, I call on the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Army Staff, Director General of State Security Services and the Director General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps to immediately investigate their personnel that invaded my peaceful home, killed, stole and destroyed my valuables. The perpetrators of this evil SHALL be publicly named and prosecuted without further delay.
My next press statement will be issued in the coming days.
Thank you all people of good conscience for standing firmly side by side with me in this yet another trying period, Your prayers has been impactful and effective. May the gentle soul of Samuel Okoro (Biggie) have eternal rest in the bossom of Our Lord Jesus Christ Amen.
Contrary to the claim by Abia State Police Command, the eight boys its men killed were not members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN), eyewitnesses, investigations and parents accounts revealed.
After the Saturday (May 29) evening attack by unknown gunmen on SCID, the Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, on Sunday, paraded eight corpses he claimed were bodies of the proscribed IPOB/ESN members killed by his men during a gun duel.
He said the attackers stormed the police formation at about 6pm on Saturday, shooting arbitrarily, leading to the death of two inspectors of police.
“Reinforcement from the command headquarters added to the fierce engagement with men on the ground saw eight of the hoodlums neutralised and killed,” the PPRO told newsmen during the press briefing.
However, an investigation by The Realm News and accounts from multiple sources including the parents of some of the victims indicted the police for extrajudicial killing.
“They were boys the military forcefully abducted from their homes and on the streets few hours after the attack on SCID Umuagu, Umuahia, and handed over to the police for proper investigation,” an eye-witness who identified himself as Mr Uche said. He said on the day of the attack on SCID, the boys, numbering 50, wearing all sort of charms and half nude invaded the police formation and chased the officers away.
“On sighting them, the police officers on duty abandoned their duty posts and weapons and fled the police station from all corners.
“They operated freely for about 15 minutes and even encouraged people to snap and video them,” he said.
He added, “they did not take anything from the police station. They only burnt it down and killed one of their members for stealing money from the police front desk. The police never engaged them in any shootout.”
Another eyewitness, a trader at Ubani market, who identified himself as Ogechuhwu, corroborated the account of Mr Uche. He said people wanted to run away when the gunmen started shooting but they (gunmen) encouraged them to remain calm.
“They moved to and fro the road severally and after a while, they stopped a Toyota Hilux pickup van and told the driver where to go and recover his van.
“Except for one of their members they killed for flouting their law, the rest boarded the Hilux van and zoomed off en route Umuahia main town. There was no exchange of gunfire between them and the police,” he said.
Reliving the incident that led to the extrajudicial killing of his son Mr Obinna Ejekwu and his younger sister’s son Mr Onyebuchi Amadi by the police to The Realm News crew who visited his plot 5 Rivers lane Ugwunchara resident, the inconsolable bereaved father Mr Nicholas Ejekwu, 69, said thus:
“I was in front of my compound when we started hearing gunshots. People ran towards our house and stayed here for safety. After the shooting stopped, some soldiers came in the direction of our house. When those taking refuge at the front of the house saw the soldiers, they began running away via our backyard.
The soldiers asked what I was doing outside and I told them that this is my house. They shouted at me to get up from here. So, I stood up and entered my room. The soldiers later entered my house via the backyard, broke the doors and took my sons and other family members outside and ordered them to lie on the floor.
He said they forced everybody, including women and children, to lie face down on the floor and after subjecting them to several inhumane treatments, took away his two sons.
“They later separated my sons from the rest and took them away. Afterwards, we later heard that they kept them at City Base filling station situated at Ugwunchara road. Around midnight, the army called the police and handed my children and others they picked on the road to them and they took them away,” he said.
The bereaved father said one of the staff of the filling station who watched the scene from his office where he was hiding said the soldiers told the police that they picked his children from their house and the rest on the street.
“The filling station staff told us that he overheard the soldiers tell the police to detain them for proper investigation. But the police ignored this order, killed my children and the others and claimed the next day that they were the unknown gunmen killed in a gun battle,” he said.
He added, “I don’t know why they (soldiers) came to my house. Obinna, one of my sons that they killed, had a wife and three little children. He was a printer and had a shop at Warri street by Niger road in Umuahia. His younger brother Onyebuchi was a tailor. They were not problematic. I don’t know why the police would kill them without investigation.”
The uncles and auntie of the slain boys, Chief Nwabuisi Ejekwu, Paul Ejekwu, Agu Eze Ben Ezeonu and Mrs Ngozi Nwachukwu corroborated the narration of the bereaved father.
According to them, the soldiers kicked down the doors with their legs and forced everyone outside.
“They brought us all out and made us lie on the ground in front of our house. After a few minutes, they picked my nephews who just came back from work and one man that was also coming back home and left,” teary Mrs Nwachukwu said.
She said Onyebuchi was her younger sister’s son while Obinna’s father is her eldest brother. According to her, all efforts to locate them proved abortive until Sunday when they saw their corpses with others paraded by the police as the unknown gunmen.
“My sister and Obinna’s wife went to CPS early on Sunday morning, but the police didn’t allow them to enter. They even flogged them for trying to enquire about the whereabouts of her son.
“Obinna wore a wine-coloured long sleeves flowered shirt and blue jean trousers because he just came back from work while Onyebuchi, because he was in the house resting when the soldiers broke into his room, wore white knickers.
We were surprised when we saw their lifeless bodies. They had changed Onyebuchi’s white knickers to black with charcoal robbed all over his body. Obinna’s blue jeans had also turned to black. I believe the police did that to make them look like the so-called unknown gunmen.”
The uncle of the slain boys, Chief Nwabuisi Ejekwu, said when he heard about the incident on Saturday night, he called Obinna at about 10:56pm and he picked but sounded distressed.
“He told me that they were at City Base filling station with soldiers. I called him again by 11pm to ask what was happening but his phone was switched off.
“We began looking for them on Sunday because people that watched what happened from their living rooms told us that by midnight, the army called the police and handed the arrested individuals to them. That was why we started going from one police station to another.
On Monday morning, between 10 and 11am, we saw our nephews on the internet. They had killed them. We rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia and saw where they dumped their corpses in front of the mortuary.
“We even found the keys to Mr Obinna’s shop inside his jeans trousers. The mortuary attendant told us to write the government for approval before we can claim their bodies.
When The Realm News crews visited, Mr Obinna’s printing shop at 39, Warri street by Niger road, his dumbfounded neighbours were seen laying curses on the police for killing a young industrious father and tagging him one of the unknown gunmen.
“We all attended the wedding of one of us and later came back to the shop. It was not quite long after we left to our various homes that the pandemonium broke out. We were surprised when we saw his lifeless body on the internet.
“At first, we thought he was killed by a stray bullet. It was very embarrassing for the police to kill Obinna and tag him an unknown gunmen.
“Obinna was a quiet young man. He didn’t deserve such a cruel death from the police that ought to protect him,” one of his neighbours said.
Repeated calls put across to the state PPRO proved abortive.
Multiple sources told The Realm News that the police have killed over 100 young men in Abia state in the past few weeks, tagging them unknown gunmen.
Similar killings triggered EndSARS protests in 2020 and led to the dissolution of the infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) but there is nothing to indicate that the police have abandoned their old ways.
