Rights Body, InterSociety, Raises Alarm Over Nefarious Activities, Extortion Of Motorists By

Posted by Ignatius Okpara Uncategorized Saturday, February 15th, 2025

New Anambra ‘Agunaechemba Vigilante Group’

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Human rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has accused the dreaded Anambra state government newly formed Agunaechemba Vigilante Group of engaging in nefarious activities l, including extortion of Motorists like the police and Military personnel along major roads in the state.

Recalled that Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state had recently established the local security outfits with a view to stemming the tide of the alarming insecurity in the state

However, InterSociety in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday said it has “spotted and identified extortion as one of the modus operandi of the operatives of the newly renamed Agunaechemba Vigilante Group; sobriquet “Bakassi Boys”.

“To the extent that such were recently spotted by the Intersociety field volunteers in at least five different locations along Nnobi, Ichida, Awka-Etiti, Igboukwu, Uga and Umuchu road axis of the state.

It described the misconduct as a statutory deficiency and glaring operational Illegalities in the Soludo led government, adding that it is also countermeasures Against violent crimes in Anambra State.

The statement was jointly signed by the organization’s Board Chairman and Criminologist, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi, and other top officials of the group, which includes, Barr. Chinwe Umeche, Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program, Barr. Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam, Head, Campaign and Publicity, and Obianuju Joy Igboeli (Esq) head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.

It warned that “governor-soludo-must as a matter of urgency -stop a resurgence of -bakassi-boys in the state, stressing that the glaring operational Illegalities must stop.

“According to the organization, “the incurable bane of the personnel of the Nigeria Police force and the Armed Forces (military) on Nigerian roads particularly across the South-East and the South-South have been spotted and identified as one of the modus operandi of the operatives of the newly renamed Agunaechemba Vigilante Group; sobriquet “Bakassi Boys”.

“The checks specifically took place between January 30 and 31, 2025, during which the operatives of the new dreaded outfit were sighted mounting roadblocks and forcing motorists to part with N200 notes per motorist/per trip.

It posited that “the security implications of such corrupt practices on crime detection and apprehension of suspected criminals and their criminal properties are very far-reaching.

“Apart from exposing Government inadequate welfare packages for members of the new outfit and glaring lack of discipline and command and control accountability, they can also facilitate an escape route for persons of under-world as it is anything goes once each motorist is forced to part with N200 note, not minding who or what the motorist is plying on the road with.

It quoted the immediate past Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, CP Obono Itam, who told newsmen that “the Joint Security Forces, in partnership with the recently launched Operation Udo Ga Achi have killed no fewer than 100 gunmen in the State and many buildings demolished”.

The ex – Anambra police boss was further quoted as saying “We have neutralized (killed) more than 100 criminals and destroyed many buildings in Ufuma, Eziowelle, Achalla, Ogbaru and many other places in the State (including Lilu and Oba)”.

InterSociety therefore, argued that “the operations of the State Vigilante Service (“Agunaechemba”) are also found to be existentially questionable and grounded in patterns and trends reminiscent of the Bakassi Boys and their inglorious epoch of 1999-2002.

“Apart from demolishing buildings which have no place in the country’s Criminal Code Act of 2004, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 and the country’s 1999 Constitution, their operations have also been mired in guesswork, false labeling, hearsay conclusions.

” Indiscriminate killings such as killing of unarmed and defenseless persons; abductions and disappearances of those arrested alive and hale and hearty and those critically shot and wounded.

“A typical case in point was the February 6, 2025-killing of the trio of defenseless Artisan-Citizens Malachy Chimaobi Iwuanyanwu and Odinkalu Chinonso of Umueze in Ehime-Mbano of Imo State and Citizen Kosisochukwu of Isuofia, Gov Soludo’s hometown in Aguata, Anambra State.

” Their killing took place in Owerre-Ezukala in Orumba South of Anambra State, during which not less than 12 others were abducted, stripped half naked and falsely labeled or accused of “being involved in kidnappings and ritual killings”.

“Among the abducted defenseless citizens in the community were three NYSC Corpers abducted at the Community’s NYSC Camp and a deformed, later freed after having been threatened and traumatized following outcries by their colleagues and locals.

“The three gruesomely murdered citizens were artisans working as POP and rot iron installers and tilers on a building site reportedly owned by an Anglican Priest.

“They were shot and killed after being dragged out of their construction site in the early morning of February 6, 2025. The killer-operatives of Agunaechemba Vigilante Group also labeled their site gas cylinders as “Ogbunigwe Bombs” (high caliber explosives).

“The identities of other abductees were later given as early morning hustlers including a Tipper driver in sand and stone haulage plying between Owerre-Ezukala and Ogbunka. Through the activation of the citizens’ vigilance and contacts, the Owerre-Ezukala Community’s WhatsApp platforms and other social media were activated, forcing the dreaded outfit to free the abductees a few days later.

“Several members of the Community also publicly disclosed that the new dreaded outfit never neared the dreaded camp of the Counterfeit Biafra Agitators and other kidnappers’ den located inside a forest between the Community (Owerre-Ezukala) and Olor in Enugu State.

“Despite the above highlighted atrocity and dastardly act, Gov Charles Soludo not only maintained conspiratorial silence but also went ahead and hailed the new dreaded outfit for “a job well done at Owerre-Ezukala criminal hideout operation”.

The group quoted a statement credited to Soludo, in one of the National dailies as saying the “Governor revealed that during a recent raid on a criminal hideout in Owerre-Ezukala, Orumba South Local Government Area, security operatives under Operation Udo Ga Achi neutralized (killed) 15 suspected criminals and captured 13 alive”.

“As if the above was not enough, the dreaded outfit on January 27, 2025, pulled down a multiple storey building hotel (Udoka Golden Point and Suites) located in Oba, Idemili South of Anambra State and turned it into a rubble without due process, diligent and detailed investigation anchored on credible intelligence.

“Not done, the dreaded outfit controversially accused the hotel and its owner of harboring “ritualists and kidnappers” and claimed under malicious circumstances that it discovered “over 30 graves and a shrine in the upper decking of the hotel”.

” On investigation, supported by logic and critical thinking and third-party verification method, it was found that the hotel facility was previously owned by an indigene of the area who later sold it to an Old Motor Parts dealer trading in one of the Markets in Onitsha and environs.

“The Intersociety also privately located a carpenter who recently worked on the re-roofing of the hotel, and he told the Intersociety that he saw the partitioned plastered block holes during the re-roofing and was informed by the new owner in passing that they were used for fish-ponding (point-and-kill) by the hotel’s former owner.

” The carpenter said he was informed of the above long before the Government’s pulling down of the hotel.

” Further investigative findings also strongly suggests a possible setup and false information arising from some interested parties that insisted that the new owner must re-buy the facility having bought it a “give away price”; or settle them handsomely or lose his ownership of the property.

“The above was like what happened to Onitsha Upper Class Hotel of No. 8 Old Market Road, its owners (the Mokwes) and some interested parties of the Onitsha origin under Peter Obi’s governorship of Anambra State on August 1, 2013; during which the hotel was pulled down on orders of the then Gov over claims of “discovery of human heads”.

“The claims later turned out to be cooked up and false labeling. The demolition of the Onitsha Upper Class Hotel was ordered by then Gov Peter Obi and coordinated by then dreaded OC SARS at Awkuzu, Retired CSP James Oshim Nwafor, during which its inherited owner, Chief Bonaventure Mokwe was arrested and thrown into Awkuzu SARS dungeon where he was tortured and held for 88 days and in the end, the whole thing turned out to be a setup.

“The owner of the Udoka Golden Point and Suites in Oba, Anambra State, Citizen A.G. Udoka has since fled and gone into hiding to escape possible assassination or abduction and disappearance by his rivals or further victimization by the Government of Anambra State including unlawful arrest, indefinite and arbitrary detention and trump-up charges using “prosecutorial vindictiveness”,

“I bought the property from the original owner, who constructed it as it is, and the top floor was converted into a fishpond before I acquired it.

“The fishpond was designed to allow easy oversight of the fish and for them to be used at the hotel’s bar for barbecue. Since I purchased the property, some interested parties have been upset and wanted to revoke its sale.

“When that failed, they started manufacturing troubles for me. I’m a legitimate businessman who deals in motor parts, land and property. You can enquire from the traders in the community.