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The Slain Igwes And Babel Of Police Investigations
UBA AHAM -ubaaham@yahoo.com 08033217953
Police authorities in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, recently announced the arrest of yet a new suspect
in the gruesome murder of Barnabas and Blessing Igwe, a couple, in the commercial city of
Onitsha, Anambra state of Nigeria. The new suspect, known as Odogwu Anam and described
as a dreaded underworld kingpin, was arrested by the police in Asaba, Delta
state capital. The so-called Odogwu Anam reportedly pulled the trigger that killed the Igwes.
Police authorities added that this suspect was arrested shortly after the gruesome killing, but
surprisingly grante bail.
Barnabas and Blessing (Amaka) Igwe, both lawyers were brutally murdered in Onitsha town on
September 1, 2002. They were on a visit to a family friend on the fateful day when assassins
trailed and mindlessly hacked them down. The killers dealt machete blows on the Bar chairman,
shooting him three times. Blessing, his pregnant wife, was given machete
cuts on her waist, almost severing it from the knee region, separating the upper torso from the
lower one.
The attack, among other things, left a deep wide gash on her waist from her backside. And,
apparently to ensure that the couple did not survive the attack, the assailants ran their vehicles
over them and fled. Even Blessing’s cries that she was pregnant, and that her unborn baby
should be spared, did not touch the stone hearts of the murderers, as they went ahead with their
murderous assignment.
Police high command, a couple of days ago, claimed that the arrested Odogwu Anam was a
member of the gang that killed the couple, and had, shortly after he was granted bail, fled
overseas only to return when he thought the matter had been forgotten.
What a strange story! Where does this novel development leave concerned Nigerians in tracking
down the killers of the Igwes? And what impression does this incessant volte-face in this
murder probe create about the Nigeria police? This latest so-called break-through in arresting
Odogwu Anam by the police is like a story told by an idiot, full of sound
and fury.
For six whole years, the police had been floundering, arresting and clamping into detention
camps numerous alleged killers of the Igwes. The duo, it will be recalled, were murdered during
the regime of Chinwoke Mbadinuju as governor of Anambra state. While his wife died on the
spot, Barnabas died later at the hospital, but not until after reportedly making a dying declaration
linking Mbadinuju to the attack.
The dying Barnabas was said to have mentioned Ken Emeakayi, Mbadinuju’s works
commissioner, as the leader of the gang that attacked him and his wife. This dying declaration
was in spite of Mbadinuju’s alibi that he was attending a world Igbo congress in far away
Houston, U.S.A, as at the time of the incident. It is noteworthy that Barnabas leadership in
Onitsha Bar was so critical of Mbadinuju government in Anambra state before they were slain.
In fact, at a point in the rift, the Bar declared war against Mbadinuju regarding his protracted
indebtedness to the state’s workforce, and, subsequently, declared Anambra a failed state.
Understandably, following Barnabas’ dying declaration, coupled with the efforts of the
leadership of Chuka Obele Chuka, Barnabas replacement, the police, first, arrested and severally
arraigned Emeakayi.
Emeakayi, in charge of the dreaded Anambra State Vigilante Service (alias Bakassi Boys), stood
trial alongside other suspects in the murder for several months before their eventual acquittal.
After the arraignment of Emeakayi and scores of his co-accused, the police turned their
prosecution searchlight in the direction of former Governor Mbadinuju, who just returned to
Nigeria after holidaying overseas for months after the expiration of his tenure in May 2003.
Mbadinuju, subsequently, faced a high profile murder trial in both Abuja and Anambra state in
2006. He was slammed with a three-count charge of conspiracy to murder the Igwes before an
Onitsha Chief Magistrate court presided over by Mabel Mbakwe. According to the charges
numbered MO/1c/2006,
Mbadinuju was accused, alongside others still at large, “of conspiring with one another to
commit murder and thereby committing an offence punishable under section 494 of the criminal
code cap 36 vol. II revised laws of Anambra State Nigeria, 1999”. Mbadinuju’s Onitsha trial
was preceded by yet another one in Abuja.
The Abuja Chief Magistrate court, presided over by Usman Shuaibu, had earlier commenced
similar proceedings against him and one Daniel Anyiego for ‘criminal conspiracy, abatement of
offence of culpable homicide punishable with death’. Mbadinuju was alleged to have given false
information with intent to mislead public servants, causing disappearance of evidence and giving
false information to shield persons who committed the offence from legal punishment.
But recently, Mbadinuju was discharged and acquitted by Justice D.O.C Amaechina of Onitsha
Hgh Court following an application he brought before it for a judicial review of the murder
charges against him. The implication of Mbadinuju’s discharge and acquittal, as well as that of
Emeakayi and his co-accused, is that the police made a mistake in arraigning them in court in the
first instance. That is, they were prosecuted for the murder of the Igwes in error. On a general
note, the implication is the Mbadinuju government (that is, Mbadinuju and all that served in his
administration) has been given a clean bill of health in the
couple’s murder.
While not passing comments on the propriety or otherwise of Mbadinuju’s discharge and
acquittal by Justice Amaechina, I am of the opinion that the Nigerian police do not deserve any
pat on the back for their so-called latest break-through in nabbing Odogwu Anam, whom they
claimed, was one of the killers of the Onitsha couple lawyers. Is it, rather,
not a shame on the police force that it could not pull through any of the trials it initiated over the
cold-blooded murder of the lawyers for the past six years? This development, in deed, exposes
the crass inexperience of our police force in cracking and curbing crime.
For six years, Nigerian police had adopted the tactic of ‘trial and error’ in tracking down killers
of the Igwes, whose brutal murder had plunged their three little kids, Somadina, Chijindu and
Nnenna into penury and misery. Is it not a shame that the police has continued with this
macabre dance without end? Who is sure that the on-going celebrated arrest and planned trial
Odogwu Anam is not another foray into a fool’s paradise? Who is sure that the eventual
prosecution will not go the way of others, inexplicably end in discharge and acquittal of the
accused?
If the police could not successfully prosecute Mbadinuju and his officials, who were implicated
in the assassination of the couple by the Onitsha Bar, what is the guarantee that the latest
euphoria over the nabbing of yet another suspect is not part of a plot to continue to deceive and
hoodwink the public into believing that the Nigerian police can still live out its name? What Babel
of investigations into a murder too! many? What a confused nation?
Uba Aham is a veteran journalist based in Enugu, Nigeria.
UBA AHAM -ubaaham@yahoo.com 08033217953
Police authorities in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, recently announced the arrest of yet a new suspect
in the gruesome murder of Barnabas and Blessing Igwe, a couple, in the commercial city of
Onitsha, Anambra state of Nigeria. The new suspect, known as Odogwu Anam and described
as a dreaded underworld kingpin, was arrested by the police in Asaba, Delta
state capital. The so-called Odogwu Anam reportedly pulled the trigger that killed the Igwes.
Police authorities added that this suspect was arrested shortly after the gruesome killing, but
surprisingly grante bail.
Barnabas and Blessing (Amaka) Igwe, both lawyers were brutally murdered in Onitsha town on
September 1, 2002. They were on a visit to a family friend on the fateful day when assassins
trailed and mindlessly hacked them down. The killers dealt machete blows on the Bar chairman,
shooting him three times. Blessing, his pregnant wife, was given machete
cuts on her waist, almost severing it from the knee region, separating the upper torso from the
lower one.
The attack, among other things, left a deep wide gash on her waist from her backside. And,
apparently to ensure that the couple did not survive the attack, the assailants ran their vehicles
over them and fled. Even Blessing’s cries that she was pregnant, and that her unborn baby
should be spared, did not touch the stone hearts of the murderers, as they went ahead with their
murderous assignment.
Police high command, a couple of days ago, claimed that the arrested Odogwu Anam was a
member of the gang that killed the couple, and had, shortly after he was granted bail, fled
overseas only to return when he thought the matter had been forgotten.
What a strange story! Where does this novel development leave concerned Nigerians in tracking
down the killers of the Igwes? And what impression does this incessant volte-face in this
murder probe create about the Nigeria police? This latest so-called break-through in arresting
Odogwu Anam by the police is like a story told by an idiot, full of sound
and fury.
For six whole years, the police had been floundering, arresting and clamping into detention
camps numerous alleged killers of the Igwes. The duo, it will be recalled, were murdered during
the regime of Chinwoke Mbadinuju as governor of Anambra state. While his wife died on the
spot, Barnabas died later at the hospital, but not until after reportedly making a dying declaration
linking Mbadinuju to the attack.
The dying Barnabas was said to have mentioned Ken Emeakayi, Mbadinuju’s works
commissioner, as the leader of the gang that attacked him and his wife. This dying declaration
was in spite of Mbadinuju’s alibi that he was attending a world Igbo congress in far away
Houston, U.S.A, as at the time of the incident. It is noteworthy that Barnabas leadership in
Onitsha Bar was so critical of Mbadinuju government in Anambra state before they were slain.
In fact, at a point in the rift, the Bar declared war against Mbadinuju regarding his protracted
indebtedness to the state’s workforce, and, subsequently, declared Anambra a failed state.
Understandably, following Barnabas’ dying declaration, coupled with the efforts of the
leadership of Chuka Obele Chuka, Barnabas replacement, the police, first, arrested and severally
arraigned Emeakayi.
Emeakayi, in charge of the dreaded Anambra State Vigilante Service (alias Bakassi Boys), stood
trial alongside other suspects in the murder for several months before their eventual acquittal.
After the arraignment of Emeakayi and scores of his co-accused, the police turned their
prosecution searchlight in the direction of former Governor Mbadinuju, who just returned to
Nigeria after holidaying overseas for months after the expiration of his tenure in May 2003.
Mbadinuju, subsequently, faced a high profile murder trial in both Abuja and Anambra state in
2006. He was slammed with a three-count charge of conspiracy to murder the Igwes before an
Onitsha Chief Magistrate court presided over by Mabel Mbakwe. According to the charges
numbered MO/1c/2006,
Mbadinuju was accused, alongside others still at large, “of conspiring with one another to
commit murder and thereby committing an offence punishable under section 494 of the criminal
code cap 36 vol. II revised laws of Anambra State Nigeria, 1999”. Mbadinuju’s Onitsha trial
was preceded by yet another one in Abuja.
The Abuja Chief Magistrate court, presided over by Usman Shuaibu, had earlier commenced
similar proceedings against him and one Daniel Anyiego for ‘criminal conspiracy, abatement of
offence of culpable homicide punishable with death’. Mbadinuju was alleged to have given false
information with intent to mislead public servants, causing disappearance of evidence and giving
false information to shield persons who committed the offence from legal punishment.
But recently, Mbadinuju was discharged and acquitted by Justice D.O.C Amaechina of Onitsha
Hgh Court following an application he brought before it for a judicial review of the murder
charges against him. The implication of Mbadinuju’s discharge and acquittal, as well as that of
Emeakayi and his co-accused, is that the police made a mistake in arraigning them in court in the
first instance. That is, they were prosecuted for the murder of the Igwes in error. On a general
note, the implication is the Mbadinuju government (that is, Mbadinuju and all that served in his
administration) has been given a clean bill of health in the
couple’s murder.
While not passing comments on the propriety or otherwise of Mbadinuju’s discharge and
acquittal by Justice Amaechina, I am of the opinion that the Nigerian police do not deserve any
pat on the back for their so-called latest break-through in nabbing Odogwu Anam, whom they
claimed, was one of the killers of the Onitsha couple lawyers. Is it, rather,
not a shame on the police force that it could not pull through any of the trials it initiated over the
cold-blooded murder of the lawyers for the past six years? This development, in deed, exposes
the crass inexperience of our police force in cracking and curbing crime.
For six years, Nigerian police had adopted the tactic of ‘trial and error’ in tracking down killers
of the Igwes, whose brutal murder had plunged their three little kids, Somadina, Chijindu and
Nnenna into penury and misery. Is it not a shame that the police has continued with this
macabre dance without end? Who is sure that the on-going celebrated arrest and planned trial
Odogwu Anam is not another foray into a fool’s paradise? Who is sure that the eventual
prosecution will not go the way of others, inexplicably end in discharge and acquittal of the
accused?
If the police could not successfully prosecute Mbadinuju and his officials, who were implicated
in the assassination of the couple by the Onitsha Bar, what is the guarantee that the latest
euphoria over the nabbing of yet another suspect is not part of a plot to continue to deceive and
hoodwink the public into believing that the Nigerian police can still live out its name? What Babel
of investigations into a murder too! many? What a confused nation?
Uba Aham is a veteran journalist based in Enugu, Nigeria.