CRIME
Mistaken Identity: How Anambra Community Declared Mayhem On Security Forces, Community
By CHUKS EKE
The dust raised by the shooting and killing of Uchenna Udoh, an automobile mechanic and native of Abatete community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State appeared to be dying down, following the ongoing peace talks between the authorities of security forces, Abatete town union, the state government, bereaved Udoh’s family and the restive youths in the area.
A combined team of security forces, including the Police, Army, Navy, Civil Defense and Vigilante Operatives had while in a convoy of routine patrol, met Udoh at Eke Agu market, Abatete on a fateful day, ordered him to come closer for a search, but out of fear, he took to his heels and one of the security personnel pulled his trigger and shot him dead, accusing him of being a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB).
Consequently, youths in Abatete, both indigenes and non-indigenes revolted at once, embarked on a violent demonstration in protest against Udoh’s killing on mere suspicion, went on a rampage and started destroying properties at the palace of the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Charles Emeka Efobi who was not even in town.
The irate youths also stormed the palace of the traditional prime minister of Abatete (Onowu and Obi of Agbaja Quarters), Chief Pius Ezigwe and the compound of the President-General, P-G of Abatete Development Organisation (ADO), Chief Lawrence Okoye and destroyed some existing structures, which prompted the police to descend heavily on them, arrested some and clamped them into detention.
However, the monarch and town union leaders pardoned the youths and took them on bail, despite the quantum of damages they perpetrated at Igwe’s and Onowu’s palaces, to enable the peace talks to continue in earnest.
At the last count of the peace talks, the state government was said to have agreed to pay compensation for killing Udoh by the security forces out of mistaken identity.
Confirming this development in his palace during their 2022 annual new yam festival, Igwe Efobi noted that peace has actually returned to the area.
Flanked by Onowu Ezigwe P-G Okoye, Igwe Efobi declared: “Peace has since returned after the mayhem in which my palace, community Secretariat, and the house of the PG, among others, were touched by irate youths who were misled by enemies of progress”.
Also flanked by other prominent cabinet members and community leaders, including the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the Igwe-in-Council, Chief Law Mefor; chairman of the youths, Paul Okafor,; chairman of Agbaja quarters, Chief Anny Ekunie (Ugonnia); chairman of Agbaja Taskforce, Hon. Iyke Ofogu; Barrister Arthur Obi Okafor SAN, Barrister Maurice Efobi, and Chief Paul Okeke, the monarch further declared: ” peace has now returned, I can’t say 100 per cent because nobody scores 100 per cent but at least 90 percent peace is now in the community”
He commended Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, for his efforts in ensuring that peace prevails in the State, adding, “About six or three months ago if you are doing any functions like this our new yam festival, you will not see anybody because of fear of insecurity. I thank Governor Soludo for tackling insecurity headlong.”
On the new yam festival, he said that it was a period of thanking God for abundant farm produce and preparation for cultivation for another season, adding, “it is also a period of interaction with relations, friends and well-wishers, masquerades also display the stuff they are made of, as part of the entertainment”.
Also reacting to the killing of the youth, that resulted in the mayhem, the P-G, Okoye, the youth leader, Okafor; PRO, Mefor, Ekunie and Ofogu, noted that the mayhem was sponsored adding, “more than half of the suspects arrested by the police were nonindigenes.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have engaged armed hoodlums in crossfire during a siege on forest warehouses in the Opuje community, Owan West local government area of Edo State where drugs to be sold during the forthcoming Yuletide period were stored.
A statement on Thursday from the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi said the operatives repelled rain of bullets from armed hoodlums who blocked all roads in Opuje community, Owan West local government area of Edo state to prevent the anti-narcotic operatives from accessing the forest warehouses where tons of processed psychoactive substances have been stored for distribution nationwide ahead of the coming Christmas and New Year season.
He noted that this is coming barely 11 months after armed youths recruited by drug barons ambushed NDLEA officers who stormed the community to destroy massive warehouses and tents storing over 317,417 kilogrammes (317.4 metric tons) of cannabis sativa on Wednesday 18th January 2023.
He recalled that at least, three suspects: Omoruan Theophilus, 37; Aigberuan Jacob, 42; Ekeinde Anthony Zaza, 53, and Naomi Patience Ohiewere, 42, were arrested in connection with the drugs then.
Babafemi said the Opuje community is notorious for cannabis cultivation, where the cartels invest huge resources, cutting down economic trees of the forest reserves and cultivating cannabis on a large scale, running into hundreds of hectares. After harvest, they build warehouses inside the forest reserves and employ the services of armed youths to protect the warehouses at all times.
He said following credible intelligence that the drug cartels had again stocked their warehouses in the forest to start distribution of the psychoactive substance to various parts of the country ahead of the Yuletide season, teams of NDLEA officers were mobilised to enter the Edo forests, and block the distribution of the illicit drug by destroying their warehouses. Some of the warehouses containing about 6,000 kilogrammes of cannabis were first taken down in the Ujiogba forest in Esan West LGA last weekend.
He added that the NDLEA teams however came under gunfire attack in the early hours of Monday when they approached the Opuje forest after the armed hoodlums had blocked all access roads in the community. He said the NDLEA operatives were able to exit the area after over two hours of gunfight with the armed hoodlums.
Babafemi said unfortunately, three of the officers were injured in the attack with one of them shot in the head while some of the vehicles used for the operation were riddled with bullets. The affected officers were rushed to the hospital for treatment while the critically injured one had major surgery on Wednesday to remove the bullets in his brain.
In his reaction to the attack, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) warned that those sponsoring attacks on the operatives would know no rest until they are all brought before the law to face the consequences of their action and their criminal trade terminated.
While commending the professional conduct of the officers involved in the operation, Marwa said the incident will not in any way deter the agency from continuing its ongoing offensive action against drug barons and cartels who are merchants of death bent on destroying the lives of innocent citizens especially the youths for their comfort across the nooks and crannies of the country.
Attempts by drug syndicates to smuggle illicit substances such as methamphetamine and opioids concealed in the hems of new jeans trousers, dolls, buttons, local soap, and beverage tins to Europe, the United Arab Emirates, and Asia have been foiled by NDLEA operatives at some courier firms in Lagos.
According to a statement issued by the anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, some of the consignments intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) at courier houses in Lagos include tramadol 225mg concealed in the hems of new jeans trousers bound for Cyprus; a shipment of cannabis sativa concealed in the heads of dolls bound for Dubai, UAE.
He said a shipment of another illicit substance coming from Florida, USA was equally intercepted at a courier firm while the recipient, Daniel Ogi was tracked by NDLEA officers and arrested at 5 Akeem Shittu Street, Ajao Estate Lagos on Friday 24th November 2023.
Babafemi also said operatives in Lagos last Friday arrested a drug kingpin, Okechukwu Ogala, 56, who specialises in exploiting and recruiting young persons to export meth to Asian countries. He was arrested at Blue Moon Hotel in the Okota area of Lagos with 60 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.009 kilogrammes
In another operation in Lagos, operatives last Friday recovered 393 kilogrammes of cannabis in a shop at Akala, Mushin while a suspect, Justin Enuonye, who deals in Canadian Loud was arrested by the police at Victoria Island and transferred to Lagos Command of NDLEA this same day with 154 parcels weighing 92 kilogrammes.
Babafemi also said a team of NDLEA operatives also intercepted a vehicle at the Oyingbo area of Lagos and recovered 108 kilogrammes of cannabis from it, while 675 kilogrammes of the same substance were recovered from the store of a wanted dealer, Wahab Olota at Adedoja area of Mushin, Lagos State.
In Edo, NDLEA operatives last Wednesday stormed the Ujiogba forest, Esan West local government area where they recovered 5,988 kilogrammes of cannabis already processed and ready for distribution while a 22-year-old, Mason Bunde, (a.k.a Tete Peter Joseph) found in a hut on the cannabis farm was arrested.
He said no less than 120,000 capsules of tramadol concealed in new sound systems packed in a Jos, Plateau state-bound bus were seized by NDLEA officers acting on intelligence along Onitsha-Awka road, Anambra state last Monday, while 123 blocks of cannabis weighing 73 kilogrammes were recovered from a suspect, Abdullahi Bello along Gombe-Bauchi road, Gombe state last Wednesday, operatives in Abuja seized 168 blocks of a same psychoactive substance with a total weight of 101 kilogrammes from the store of a fleeing drug dealer in Kabusa area of the FCT.
The NDLEA spokesman said no fewer than 8,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered by NDLEA operatives last Friday when they intercepted a vehicle transporting the opioid along Abuja- Kaduna road, with the driver, Shamsu Isiyaku and his conductor, Muhammad Maina arrested. The same day, operatives also arrested Ernest Esechie, 30, with 44.4 kilogrammes of compressed cannabis sativa along Gwantu- Sanga road, Kaduna.
In Kogi, NDLEA officers arrested Ahmad Umar, 18, with 46.4 kilogrammes of cannabis at a checkpoint in Kabba, while Jamilu Zakari, 32, was nabbed at Kofar Idi, Kandahar, Bauchi town, Bauchi state with 125 blocks of the same substance that weighed 146 kilogrammes.
At least, 542.3 kilogrammes of cannabis were recovered from a suspect, Festus Egeogoli, 32, when his base at Jakpa road, Warri, Delta state was raided by NDLEA operatives last Wednesday, while 125.9 kilogrammes of the same substance were also seized from a store in the same area.
He said the various commands of the Agency across the country continued with the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign in the past week. Some of them include WADA sensitisation lectures for students of Phrankstars School, Awka, Anambra; students of Taskar Alkairi Primary and Secondary Schools, Goburawa, Dala LGA, as well as Natsugune Primary and Secondary Schools, Ungogo LGA, Kano; students of Kevqueen College, Itanla, Ondo West LGA, Ondo; students of Unibek Group of Schools, Port Harcourt, Rivers; students of The Apostolic High School, Ilesa, Osun, and students of Usman Jidda Shuwa Memorial Secondary School, Gamboru, Borno state.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending the officers and men of the Lagos, Edo, Anambra, Gombe, FCT, Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi and Delta commands of the agency as well as DOGI for their outstanding feats in the past week, applauded their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures thus creating parity between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.
By Chuks Eke
North fewer than four persons including security operatives have been feared killed in the Aguluzigbo community in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, the hometown of Senator Victor Umeh, the incumbent Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone when gunmen allegedly attacked sex-security operatives in the area.
It was gathered that the yet-to-be-identified hoodlums invaded the community on Tuesday morning and allegedly engaged themselves in a sporadic gunshot which led to a hot exchange of gun duel between them and security operatives in the area.
According to sources, the gun duel, which started in the morning, raged for several hours and sent panic in the community.
The incident was further corroborated by videos from the scene, which are currently trending on social media.
When contacted on the development, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident but said details were still sketchy.
Ikenga said, “Yes. There was a shooting incident between some gunmen and security operatives at Aguluzigbo community this morning”.
“The information is still sketchy for now and any further details will be made available when we get the true pictures of what happened. But our men are currently on top of the situation.”
Efforts to reach Senator Umeh on the phone proved abortive as his phone rang severally without response.
4 feared dead as hoodlums attack security operatives in Senator Victor Umeh” ‘s Aguluzigbo community
By Chuks Eke
North fewer than four persons including security operatives have been feared killed in the Aguluzigbo community in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, the hometown of Senator Victor Umeh, the incumbent Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone when gunmen allegedly attacked ex-security operatives in the area.
It was gathered that the yet-to-be-identified hoodlums invaded the community on Tuesday morning and allegedly engaged themselves in a sporadic gunshot which led to a hot exchange of gun duel between them and security operatives in the area.
According to sources, the gun duel, which started in the morning, raged for several hours and sent panic in the community.
The incident was further corroborated by videos from the scene, which are currently trending on social media.
When contacted on the development, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident but said details were still sketchy.
Ikenga said, “Yes. There was a shooting incident between some gunmen and security operatives at Aguluzigbo community this morning”.
“The information is still sketchy for now and any further details will be made available when we get the true pictures of what happened. But our men are currently on top of the situation.”
Efforts to reach Senator Umeh on the phone proved abortive as his phone rang severally without response.
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