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The office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Criminal Investigation Department)-Abuja has declared 12 people wanted in connection with a case of conspiracy, murder, armed robbery, act of terrorism, kidnapping, cultism and unlawful possessions.
Other charges levelled against them are house breaking, burglary, malicious damage and conduct likely to cause breach of public peace at Isuaniocha, Akwa North LGA Anambra State of Nigeria.
The wanted suspects are; Donatus Okeke, Onyebuchi Nwekeisu Okoye, Chukwu Jekwu Okoye, Chinedu Nwoye Okoye, Nonso Awusionwu Obinma, Chukwujeku Anaekeokwu, Chuka Iloligwe, Edward Okoye, Onyemazi Ngiri, Cosmas Okonkwo, Nanso Eboh and Chukwuma Onyibor.
Narrating the story, former President General of Isuaniocha Community in Akwa North LGA of Anambra State Chief Tony Nkem explained that it all started after he was elected and sworn-in as the President General of Isuaniocha Development Union on the 4th day of May 2017.
The Genesis of the mayhem was triggered by his refusal to consent to a planned looting and conversion of a community land.
He explained that a year after he and other executive members’ inauguration as the executive officers of Isuaniocha Development Union, one Cosmas Okonkwo approached him and proposed that the undeveloped portions of the land donated for establishment and expansion of Isuanaocha Community Secondary School be patitioned and shared amongst some people he (Okonkwo) selected.
“He offered me 10 plots of land from there but I turned down the offer and vehemently resisted any move to encroach on the secondary school land on the grounds that it would amount to stealing from the community.”
“As a results of this resistance, Cosmas Okonkwo and his cohorts (the suspects) recruited thugs and started causing mayhem in the Isuanaocha community”, he added.
Chief Nkem Tony is appealing to the General Public to assist the police with useful information for the apprehension of the fleeing suspects in question.
“Any person with information leading to the arrest of the suspects will be rewarded handsomely.
He has however commended the recent efforts of the Nigeria Police Force in restoring sanity to the community. “…but more is still needed to be done to totally liberate the town from the shackles of the suspects, criminal activities.”
Below is a copy of statement copied to the press;
*THE TRAVAIL OF THE PEOPLE OF ISUANAOCHA TOWN IN THE AWKA NORTH COUNCIL AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE BY CHIEF TONY NKEM ONYEAGOLU (FORMER PRESIDENT-GENERAL OF ISUANAOCHA DEVELOPMENT UNION)*
1. Isuanaocha Town/Community is one of the fastest developing towns in the Awka Capital Territory of Anambra State. The Town which over the years has been known for its sustainable peaceful atmosphere, hospitality and conviviality has been regrettably turned into a theatre of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, other heinous crimes and a hideout for all manners of criminals by Chikodi Anarah, Cosmas Okonkwo, Edward Okoye, Onyemazi Ngini, Donatus Okeke, Chukwuma Onyibor, Chinedu Nwoye Okoye and others whom I shall hereinafter refer to as “the suspects” where the context so admits.
2. It all started after I was elected the President-General of Isuanaocha Town. I was elected and sworn-in as the President-General of Isuaniocha Development Union on the 4th day of May, 2017.
3. One year after I and other executive members’ inauguration as the executive officers of Isuaniocha Development Union, Cosmas Okonkwo, approached me and proposed that the undeveloped portions of the land donated for establishment and expansion of the Isuanaocha Community Secondary school be partitioned and shared amongst some people he selected. He offered me 10 plots of land from there but I turned down the offer and vehemently resisted any move to encroach on the secondary school land on the ground that it would amount to stealing from the community. Prior to Cosmas Okonkwo’s sinister request, Chikodi Anarah had called me when I was returning from Abuja and informed me that some people from the families that donated the Community Secondary School Isuanaocha Land would approach me in relation to the Land and that I should collaborate with them as they have packages for me.
4. As a result of this resistance Cosmas Okonkwo and his cohorts (the suspects) recruited thugs and started causing mayhem in the Isuanaocha Community.
5. As I refused to be part of the planned looting or conversion of the Community land, Chikodi Anarah who was the Special Adviser to the then Governor of Anambra State on security matters called me again and advised me to accept the offer of 10 plots of land from the Secondary School Land as offered to me by Cosmas Okonkwo and let them have their way adding that even if I refuse, that I would regret it for as far as he is concerned, I cannot do anything to protect the land from being taken.
6. I wrote the then Governor of Anambra State, His Excellency, Willie M. Obiano, the Secretary to the State Government and the then Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community affairs, Mr. Greg Obi intimating them the criminal activities of the suspects in Isuanaocha Town and appealed for their aid in ensuring that lives and properties of the Community are protected.
7. Shortly after submission of my petitions aforesaid, Chikodi Anarah invited me to his site at Government House (Commissioners’ quarters) Awka where he was building his duplex and told me plainly that no amount of petition to the Governor can stop them from taking the portions of land they want in Isuanaocha Community Secondary School land as he would always support Cosmas Okonkwo’s clique in case of any dispute arising therefrom, adding that by virtue of his position as the Security Adviser to the Governor; any person who sees him has seen the Governor and that he would make sure that all my petitions will not see the light of the day and concluded by asking me to join the moving train before it would be too late.
8. It is noteworthy that the Governor and Anambra State Government did not take my petitions serious as they never took any step to prevent the suspects from encroaching and taking over substantial portion of the secondary school land.
9. The suspects and their cohort did actually go into the land partitioned it and shared it among themselves and sold some out.
10. The act of the suspects and their allies led to a serious crisis in Isuaniocha Community to the extent that the suspects hired thugs who beat up the students and the teachers when they protested their invasion of the School land. Over six persons were killed as a result of the crisis.
11. The ugly and frustrating incident left me with no other option than to write to the National President, Anambra State Association of Town Union (ASATU) and the Commissioner of Police to intimate them on the growing lawlessness in Isuaniocha Community being masterminded by the suspects and his allies. Sadly, these petitions did not see the light of the day as CHIKODI ANARAH who swore to make Isuanaocha ungovernable for me due to his inordinate interest in the Isuanaocha Community Secondary School Land would always go ahead of me to give the opposite account of the happening in Isuanaocha Community.
12. The suspects in connivance with the then Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community affairs, Mr. Greg Obi removed me from office as the President-General of Isuanaoch Town on 7/12/2018 and replaced me with the elder brother of Cosmas Okonkwo the same people that grabbed the community secondary school land.
13. The afore-listed suspects under the sponsorship of Chikodi Anarah, formed a formidable secret cult in Isuanaocha Community/Town and in the neighbouring Towns in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, unlawfully wielded and equipped themselves with sophisticated arms and ammunitions, and other offensive weapons with which they terrorize, destroy homesteads, structures, kill their perceived enemies, rob citizens to penury, and carry out their unlawful and heinous criminal activities.
14. The suspects, in a commando and in their persistent gruesome killings of innocent citizens of Isuanaocha, had on different occasions ranging from 2017 to 2022 destroyed my family house valued above N200,000,000 (Two Hundred Million Naira) situate and lying at Otoko Village Isuanaocha. Also destroyed, is a magnificent storey building with its appurtenances valued above N 1, 000, 000, 000.00 belonging to my brother of full blood, Mr. Festus Onyeagolu, and equally stole household properties therein.
15. The wanton destruction of our family houses, structures and homesteads of other members of Isuanaocha Community by these suspects and their hireling make me often weep beyond consolation.
16. The suspects while vandalizing my brother’s magnificent building at Otoko village, Isuanaocha, equally stole original title documents of my said brother Mr. Festus Onyeagolu and used same to illegally and unlawfully sell all his lands in the said community to members of public who have currently assumed possession of same without knowing whose OX is gored.
17. That much-more heart-breaking, is the account of how the suspects and their recruited thugs in their reign of terror captured Mr. Ifeanyi Anazoba, and Mr. Chukwuebuka Amodo and gruesomely slaughtered them with machete like a sacrificial ram on the altar of a pagan after firing some bullets into their tummies.
18. The suspects after slaughtering them, hacked off their heads and thereafter used a security vehicle under the control and driven by Edward Okoye to convey the severed lifeless bodies of the murdered victim to an undisclosed forest wherein they concealed the deceased’s bodies for reason(s) best known to them.
19. The suspects and their hirelings in their continued attack and war against members of the community have succeeded tremendously in sacking above half of the members of the community, particularly families who are not submissive to their evil tendencies into exile. My family houses and other respective homes have been converted to den of criminal activities by the suspects.
20. The suspects formed a dreadful secret cult in Isuanaocha and sworn that only initiated members of the Town or members of the town who have taken oath of allegiance to them would be allowed to step their feet in Isuanaocha Town. The suspects through their reign of terror have forcefully administered their oath of allegiance to the vulnerable members of the Isuanaocha Town including women and teenagers to the extent that they will not disclose or testify as to their criminal activities.
21. After many months in exile, I decided to go home on 5th day of February, 2022 on the thought/belief that the suspects have ceased hostilities, only to be seriously attacked by the same suspects who were heavily equipped with AK 47 rifles, and other explosive devices. I miraculously escaped death as the suspects who were trailing me to devour, attacked me, and damaged my RX 350 Lexus SUV and other vehicles of my entourage including that of a journalist.
22. In the said attack as I stated in paragraph 21 above, the suspects robbed me of the sum of ₦100, 000. 00, a laptop and host of other valuables.
23. I had earlier in the year 2018 miraculously escaped similar armed robbery attack by the suspects when they attacked my bar/lounge at Isuanaocha, destroyed my two vehicle, my facilities therein and robbed me of many valuables. I have a video and pictorial evidence of the damages by the suspects.
24. The suspects’ criminal activities are not limited toward my household; it extends to the other village of Isuanaocha. Moses Emebo and Emeka Mmaduka are some of the victims who were once kidnapped and maimed by the suspects for declining to be initiated into the secret cult of the suspects.
25. The suspects are in continuous initiation of villagers into their secret cult for the advancement of their criminal activities as afore-stated and as a result, the numbers of their members keep skyrocketing. A good number of villagers whom the suspects sacked from their ancestral home have succumbed to be initiated in order for them to be allowed access to their own fathers’ land, Isuanaocha.
26. The suspects had given me only option of being initiated in their cult group and swearing to an oath to forever remain silent over the criminal activities the suspects had committed against me and my families before any member of my family could be allowed access to our hometown. This is callous and unimaginable!
27. Due to the nonchalance attitude of the Government of Anambra State under the administration the ex-Governor Willie Obiano to the criminal activities of the suspects in Isuanaocha Community, I petitioned the National Assembly. Chikodi Anarah was invited by the National Assembly for public hearing of my petition but he refused to honour the invitation.
28. The joint session of the National Assembly after hearing my complaint mandated the then Governor Willie Obiano led Government of Anambra State to investigate the reported illegal involvement of appointed Aides of the Governor and other public officers of the Anambra State Government in partitioning and sales of substantial portion of the Isuanaocha Community Secondary School Land.
29. Based on the aforementioned mandate, His Excellency, Chief Willie Obiano, the then Governor of Anambra State inaugurated a Panel of Inquiry on 9th day of March, 2020 to investigate the reported encroachment in Isuanaocha Community Secondary School and the roles if any played by various people in Government mentioned in the matter and to make recommendations to the Government on how to avoid future occurrence of such encroachment.
30. The panel’s report indicted several persons both serving and retired public/Civil servants including but not limited to Chikodi Anarah, Cosmas Okonkwo, Surveyor Tagbo Nwunne, Mr Ejiofor M.N {Head of Investigation and Compliance Unit (INCU) of Post Primary School Service Commission} and others. But, sadly, the Government of Anambra State did not take any action against the indicted Public Officers; although they lately took a step to recover the school land by demolishing some of the structures of the encroachers after the crisis generated therefrom has claimed several lives and properties of the people of Isuanaocha.
31. As the suspects’ criminal activities continued, and following a joint complaint of their several victims, Chikodi Anarah was invited by the Force Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigeria Police Force on 24th day of March, 2022 but he still refused to honour the invitation.
32. Well, all hope is not lost as normalcy is gradually returning to Isuanaocha Town after the Operatives of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Abuja of the Nigeria Police Force stormed the town for discreet investigation of the atrocities ravaging the hitherto beautiful and peaceful Town of Isuanaocha.
33. With the presence of the operatives of the Nigerian Police Force, the suspects and their partners in crime including the masterminds of senseless killings in the town in the guise of members of the vigilante are on the run now. Notably among them who are on the run and who have been declared wanted by the Nigeria Police sequel to an order of the Court are: Donatus Okeke, Onyebuchi Nwekeisu Okoye, Cosmas Okonkwo, Edward Okoye, Onyemazi Ngini, Chinedu Nwoye Okoye, Nonso Ebo, Chukwuma Onyibor, Chukwujekwu Okoye, Nonso Awusionwu Obinma, Chukwujekwu Anaekeokwu and Chuka Ilodigwe.
34. I as a concerned indigene of Isuanaocha hereby appeal to the General Public to assist the Police with useful information for the apprehension of the aforementioned fleeing suspects. Any person with information leading to the arrest of the suspects will be rewarded handsomely.
35. I commend the recent effort of the Nigeria Police Force in restoring sanity to Isuanaocha town but more is still needed to be done to totally liberate the town from the shackles of the suspects’ criminal activities.
Signed by
Chief Tony Nkem Onyeagolu
On 5th day of April, 2022
