Date Published: 07/26/10
Cry over daylight injustice
UNBRIDDLED AND TIMETESTED INJUSTICE AGAINST AMOKWU AFFA PEOPLE BY NIGERIA POLICE AND ENUGU STATE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE IN THE HANDLING OF THE MATTER BETWEEN AMOKWU-AFFA COMMUNITY AND UMUOKA COMMUNITY
We regret the inconveniences this piece of complain might cause you especially now you may be enmeshed in some legislative and political engagements.
BACKGROUND
Amokwu Affa and Umuoka Communities are both in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State. The two communities have been engaged in struggle for ownership of some belts of land of which they have subsisting matter in court dating back since 1980s and still pending.
We will not go into details as to how the land belongs to any of the two communities as this will amount to prejudice to a matter already pending in court. However, issues began to erupt when one Mr. Cosmas Agu, a multi millionaire trader from Umuoka went ahead to build an Asphalt Plant in some Plots of land within the contentious areas. This he did despite all entreaties from Amokwu People to the contrary.
In response, Amokwu Affa went and erected a Sign Board with inscription “WELCOME TO AFFA” within the contentious area also to buttress their claim for the land and in reaction to the Asphalt Plant which the Trader sited.
Upon this development, Mr. Cosmas Agu (the owner of the Asphalt Plant and President General of Umuoka Town) ordered the removal of the Sign Board. Because of the height of this Sign Board, one of the boys who climbed to remove the Board fell and died. This therefore made Mr. Cosmas Agu and other youths from the Umuoka Town to ambush 31/12/2009 and kill one Mr. Vincent Onumgbo from Amokwu Affa as he was returning to the village in company of his elder brother in readiness for an Age-Grade Ceremony of which he was to participate.
On seeing the Corpse of this young Vincent, the Amokwu Affa Youths moved in and burnt the Asphalt Plant.
THE COMPLAIN
It is not in doubt that both Communities or at best Mr. Cosmas Agu and Amokwu Affa people may have taken laws into their hands by (1) Committing Murder and (2) Committing Arson respectively. However, the main issue here is as follows;
THE INJUSTICE
1. It would strike you to note that several persons including the Councilor of Affa, Traditional Ruler in Affa, Development Centre Chairman, a Lecturer in ESUT, a Bank Manager and other Eight Persons from Amokwu Affa including the President General of the Community have been arrested, detained for an average of three weeks in the name of burning of the Factory while presently, no person has been interrogated in Umuoka over the killing of our brother (not even Mr. Cosmas Agu whom Eye witness has identified as part of the Umuoka Youths who Killed Vincent) let alone detention. This singular action goes to speak volume that the Factory is more important and costlier that human being.
2. Let it also please you to note that the same Amokwu Affa people are being prosecuted for Murder of their brother, Arson etc.
3. Note that the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP; Mr. EMERIBE) in a show of shame wrote that Mr. Cosmas Agu and other Umuoka Persons are discharged from the accusation of Murder. The Police cooked up a make-believe arrest of these murderers and granted them bail same hour so as to showcase that they made statement which the DPP relied upon to effect their discharge without presenting them in court for their complicity or otherwise to be argued within the ambit of evidence.Copy of the DPP’s discharge letter is hereby attached.
4. Before now, Udi Local Government Chairman did set up a Peace Committee headed by the Deputy Chairman (Bar. Chinedu Iloeje) which came up with a Peaceful Communique signed by elders from both Communities. However, in order to prevent key persons from our Community (especially our President General) from making presentation at the Panel of Inquiry set up by the State Governor, Mr. Cosmas Agu in connivance with the Police who has become his willing tool, effected the arrest of our President General (Mr. Emmanuel Aniekwe) and others on a day immediately before the commencement of the Panel of Inquiry sitting.
5. In frantic effort and strategies to sustain their denial that somebody from Amokwu Affa was killed by Mr. Cosmas Agu and his group (as reported by an Eye witness who also is the decessed elder bother), The Police in Enugu under the leadership of Mr. Zalewa as Commissioner quickly flashed the Picture of the Corpse of our brother Vincent Onumgbo as one of those killed in the Ezamgbo Communal War in Ebonyi State.
6. We have sent several petitions to the Inspector General of Police seeking the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Cosmas Agu and his group but respite never came.Actually, a team of Policemen headed by CSP. Ayo and also in company of ASP. Jerry all of Force Headquarters Special Investigation Unit were sent to transfer the case out of Enugu but were instructed to discontinue. Subequently, all the Police Officers who participated in quelling the crisis and who also expressed displeasure over the injustice being meted against our people were quickly transferred. A fervent example is Mr. Bassey Ewang who was DPO in charge of Udi and was quickly transferred to Nsukka as 2i/c for refusing to write that Vincent was killed by his Police Team while during a shootout with mobs.
7. One other Police Mr. Willy Mamah was transferred to Lokoja for questioning why case of Murder which should be against Cosmas Agu and co should be hanged on the Amokwu people who are relatives to the deceased. He also queried why the murder case is not being handled by Homicide department.
A Judicial Commission of Enquiry under the leadership of Distinguished Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu of Abuja High Court was eventually set up by the Governor so as to give ears to both parties. The Commission commenced with inaugural sitting on the 28th of June while the President General of Amokwu Affa was arrested on Tuesday, 29th of June ostensibly to ensure he his absence and not to make presentation at the Commission.
8. Please take notice that, the fresh round of arrests which was made a day before the commencement of the Panel of Inquiry sitting was said to have been at the instruction of the Hon. Attorney General, (Mr. Nduka Ikeyi) via a letter dated 20/04/2010(copy attached). We therefore ask, does it not run antithetical and contrary to the basis of setting up the Panel of Inquiry if the State Attorney General could order fresh arrest of Persons who could have made presentations to the Panel. It was deliberately orchestrated to subvert the Panel and leave them bereft of the main issues that brought about the squabble.
9. Upon this stage, the Commission of Inquiry ordered the Police to release our President General or at worst lead him into the Commission venue (Mr. Ikenna Emmanuel Aniekwe) to enable him lead the presentations to be made by his people but the Police refused.
10. We believing that the Panel was set up to find out the truth about the whole imbroglio, would think that the Office of the Attorney General may have compromised the ability of the panel to have access to full information by instructing further arrest of Amokwu President General whom naturally and ordinarily should be leading the evidence and presentation of the Amokwu Community.
11. We are also in possession of the fact that the Attorney General has through the DPP, discharged Mr. Cosmas Agu and his co-travelers over the murder of our brother Mr. Vincent Onumgbo while he has continued to supervise full scale prosecution against Amokwu Affa People even persons who have nothing to do with the imbroglio.
12. We are not unaware of the fact that the reason for not bringing Mr. Cosmas Agu for prosecution is to sustain him clean from murder conviction which is capable of truncating his ambition to contest Udi/Ezeagu Federal Representatives Election come 2011 otherwise it is inexplicable how arson could become more important than murder.OR how one who reported for the murder of his brother will be arrested and being prosecuted over same case while the real suspect has bought his freedom out.
13. We find it difficult all the while to believe insinuations that the Asphalt Plant is collectively owned by Mr. Cosmas Agu and the family of the Attorney General. We are also unaware of the fact that the Younger Brother of the Attorney General in person of Mr. James Ikeyi is the Lawyer representing Mr. Cosmas Agu. While we believe that both the Attorney General and his brother can and should function in their various capacities, this latest arrest which is said to be at the behest of the Attorney General not only beam a Mask of Sabotage but also tend to collaborate the insinuation of Joint Ownership of the Factory.
14. We have held the person of the Attorney General in high esteem knowing full well how diligently he has handled previous offices/Portfolios he had occupied earlier than now but an exonerative clarification as to the reasons for ordering further arrest and at the time the affected persons under Police Custody were needed to provide insight at the Panel shall do us lot good while persons sighted among the Murderers are working the road free, discharged without ever appearing in court.
15. The Attorney General being the attorney to every citizen of Enugu State should as a matter of image laundry, commence a full scale detention, investigation and prosecution of those Umuoka Persons whom Eye-Witness has fingered in the murder of Mr. Vincent Onumgbo.
16. What is of totally and fundamentally worrisome is the fact that relatives of the deceased, the Amokwu People are presently being detained and prosecuted for the murder of their own brother.
17. It will also interest you to note that Mr. Cosmas Agu has boastfully said “This is the time to fight Amokwu People now that the Government of the day in Enugu State is still in Power because I can easily leverage on my relationship with the Governor to getting favorable judgment having donated huge sum at his Campaign Funding in 2007”. He gave evidence of this relationship he has with the said is made obvious by the mouth watering Road Construction Contract awarded to his COMAG STEEL LTD valued at about N800million.
18. We would have ignored all these but we now needed your reassurance that Affa in general and Amokwu in particular is still part of your constituent and Enugu State in general given the fact that he also said that with his enormous resources, he has bought up the Police in one sweep and will play up the sentiment of Ojebe Ogene clan thereby gaining the sympathy of most people in government from the Speaker of the House of Assembly to the House Member representing Udi North (HON.MARCEL NJEZE) on one hand and other EXCO Members of Ojebe Ogene extraction while noting that Affa has only their Councilor as the highest person in Government.
19. It is important and urgent to look deeply into this matter because it provides another veritable avenue to identifying the authenticity of popularly alleged collaborative tendencies of Nigeria Police Officers with Criminal, Murderers and Kidnappers with a view to solving all of them in one sweep. The likely common denominator is getting either huge bribe from a Murderer to cover his track or getting share of Ransom in a Kidnap saga. Whichever is the case Money is the driving force.
CONCLUSION
We are not rebellious in approach acknowledging that we could make mistakes in some ways while putting together this Petition, but the intentions are genuine and not provocative. We also do not intend to cast aspersions on any person or office but we need to be clarified as to basis of several actions because “WHEN TWO BUNDLES OF DRY GRASSES WERE KEPT IN SAME PLACE AND ONE EVENTUALLY GOT BURNT BY FIRE, IT RAISES QUESTION AS TO WEATHER THE ONE LEFT UNBURNT WAS SOAKED IN WATER”.
OUR BROTHER WAS MURDERED AND THIS TRIGGERED MOB ACTION ON THE ASPHALT PLANT BUT WE ARE BEING ARRESTED, DETAINED AND PROSECUTED FOR EVEN THE MURDER WHILE THE PERPETRATORS WHOM HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED ARE NOT ONLY WALKING THE STREET FREE BUT UNDER POLICE ESCORT. THE DPP DISCHARGED THEM WITHOUT POLICE EVER ARRESTING THEM FOR ONCE.
THEN ARE THERE SLAVES AND FREEBORN IN YOUR ENUGU STATE.KINDLY ASSIST US IN ANSWERING THIS QUESTION BY RAISING AN INVESTIGATION WITH THE NIGERIA POLICE AS TO WHY SUSPECTS OF MURDER ARE LEFT UNTOUCHED WHILE ARSON SUSPECTS ARE HOUNDED IN POLICE CELLS, AWAITING TRIAL PRISONS ETC.
JOURNALISTS WERE KIDNAPPED AND IT BECAME A NATIONAL ISSUE BECAUSE THEY ARE NEWS WORTHY. MANY OF US HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED AT POLICE CHECK POINT IN NTIGA JUNCTION IN ABIA STATE WHILE POLICE FAINED DEAF EARS. NOW MURDER IS PEPETRATED BY A MULTI MILLIONAIRE CAMPAIGN FUNDER AND JUSTICE IS BEING PERVERTED AGAIN.
KINDLY ASSIST US
Accept the assurances of our esteemed considerations and regards..
FOR AMOKWU PROGRESSIVE UNION.
CHIEF RAPHEAL IGWE (08033165617)
SECRETARY GENERAL
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