The Odogwu of Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State, Dr. Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, to investigate some big names in the community who he claimed were responsible for atrocities in Nigeria, especially in Delta State.
The lecturer also called on the Department of State Service (DSS) to expose the activities of notorious cultists and ritualists in Ibusa and bring them to justice.
Nwaezeigwe, who has gone into hiding abroad for fear of being eliminated by the cartel of killers, said the war against the gang was beyond the capacity of the state government and the state police command. He, therefore, called on the President and the police high command to come to the rescue of the Deltans and the Ibusa clan, specifically.
In a press statement made available to the media, Nwaezeigwe said: “I make this press statement in my capacity as the Odogwu (traditional Generalissimo) of Ibusa clan, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, Federal Republic of Nigeria, by virtue of the conferment of the said title on me under Ibusa Native Law and Customs, supported by a government declaration made under Section 4(2) of 1959 Chiefs’ Law of Western Region of Nigeria, conscious of my role as the traditional chief security officer of Ibusa clan, and challenging whoever that claims to be the Odogwu of Ibusa outside Dr. Nwankwo Anthony Okoboshi Nwaezeigwe to come up with a counter-statement to them hereunder.
“This press statement is customarily dedicated to the late Mr. Emeka Onianwa of Umuehea Quarters—who was half-murdered on April 11, 2015, right inside the palatial sitting room of a ritualist kingpin under his supervision and the affirmative watching eyes of his witty criminal wife, only to die two days later.
“For clarity and easy understanding of the facts and issues before us, the impunity of the celebrated fraudster and scammer murdered one-time Ibusa Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mercy Dagogo, and Emeka Onianwa. The fraudster brought in an unknown gunmen syndicate to the Ibusa clan to enable him to confiscate Umuodafe family land.
“Let me begin by stating with the least equivocation that the name of the kingpin is not unfamiliar in the world of serial fraudsters and scammers both in Nigeria and the world at large. Adorned with the horrible and shameless twin traditional title names represents an ethereal paradox of the customary moral instincts of the Igbo of West Niger.
“It is imperative to state that this press statement is constructed on a seven-point declaration of facts, which is further elaborated piecemeal in subsequent sections.
“First, that those Ibusa-based unknown gun-men of Imo State origin apprehended by Nigerian security agents and who in a viral video refused to mention the full identity of their other members and sponsors were indeed recruited by an Ibusa chief.
“Second, that the chief, operating in tandem with his high-level criminal connections with some powerful politicians and Nigerian security agencies, had boasted to his ring of collaborators that he would use all the available resources at his disposal to get the Nigeria Police to eliminate the said unknown gunmen to avoid their implication.
“Third, that the first fundamental reason for the chief’s recruitment of the said unknown gunmen is to acquire more arms and ammunition, having stated previously in recorded audio during the 2019 general election that he already had in his armory more than 30 rifles and would acquire more once the sum of N10 million is at his disposal.
“Fourth, the second fundamental reason for his importation of the unknown gunmen is to kidnap and assassinate the traditional ruler of Ibusa, Obi (Prof.) Louis C. Nwoboshi, whose position he has been in a desperate bid to occupy.
“Fifth, that the third fundamental reason for his employment of unknown gunmen is to kidnap and kill all the prominent men of Umuodafe Quarters, his home-village, who are agitating against his criminal sale of over N5,000 plots of their family land in collaboration with a syndicate of his co-professional Ibusa-born cyber fraudsters and international scammers, including the forceful appropriation of 206 plots of their family land in the name of his wife as well as the return of N50 million he scammed the village with the false aim of bribing the Supreme Court judges handling their land dispute with the people of Asaba.
“Sixth, that the fourth fundamental reason why the man engaged the squad is to keep them in waiting for targeted assaults against political opponents, such as Senator Peter Nwoboshi and his supporters and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who are challenging his unholy political marriage with the governor of Delta State and, consequently, his callous dominance of the party in Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency.
“Seventh, and finally, that the fifth fundamental reason why the Imo State-based unknown gun-men were hosted in Ibusa by the man is to intimidate and, where necessary, eliminate that Ibusa elite who have been vocal against his criminal carriage, which portrays Ibusa as a town of fraudsters and cybercriminals, like Professor Pat Utomi, including those demanding justice for the gruesome murder of Mr. Emeka Onianwa of Umuehea Quarters who was kidnapped on the orders of the chief, brought to his house and callously murdered.
“The kingpin has been able to maintain his criminal syndicate in Ibusa mainly because of unholy collaboration with three local institutional governing agencies headed by men of dubious character.
“The unconquerable iconic international fraudster, in a recorded audio statement, which is made available to members of the press, boasted that neither the Inspector-General of Police nor the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can deal with him. Indeed he specifically mentioned the former Inspector-General of Police who was at the time chairman of Police Service Commission, Mr. Mike Okiro, as a little man before him. And, true to his words, has some reasons to convince the Nigerian government that he is really a demi-god unto himself.
“In fact, one monstrous character of the kingpin is his reckless capacity to bribe whosoever stands in his way. He even boasts of his capability to bribe angels and thus sees the Nigerian security agencies, the judiciary, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as peanut engagements. And he seems to have proved his mettle in this regard. He boasts that it would be in the next world to come for any court in Nigeria, be it federal or state, to commit him for any case of fraud”
The statement added: “The man often boasts that he is in full control of both the EFCC and Nigerian judiciary and, for that reason, no court verdict against him will ever come out from the EFCC, and there is a plethora of evidence in support of such assertion. The then chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, was reported as saying in October 2003 that the fraudster had 12 pending cases of an advance-fee fraud scam. The question before us is, from 2003 to 2022, which among these 12 cases has been diligently concluded before a Nigerian court of law?
“On June 29, 2010, the DPO of Ibusa Police Station, Mrs. Mercy Dagogo, was gunned down at Ogbeogonogo Main Market, Asaba. CSP Dagogo was specifically posted to Ibusa to combat the deadly activities of cultists in the town. In line with her no-nonsense policy, she had flatly refused to come to a compromise with the kingpin and his wife who are known sponsors of Ibusa cultists. At one stage, it was reported that she was frontally reprimanded by the kingpin’s wife, in front of her men, who threatened to use her position in the state to get her transferred out of Ibusa. Evidently, that ‘transfer’ turned out to be her assassination.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that both the kingpin and his wife were accomplices in the murder of the woman police officer. The Nigeria Police knew about it, but could not take proactive action against them, particularly after one of the gunmen sent by him to attack the people of Okpanam over a land dispute was caught and, upon interrogation by the police, not only stated that he was armed and sent by the kingpin but was an accomplice in the murder of the former Ibusa DPO. However, in line with their culture of corruption, the same police ended up burying the matter after sumptuous bribery from the kingpin.
“For posterity to be on the side of Governor Okowa, he is strongly advised to consider setting up the necessary legal instruments to investigate the allegations against the kingpin. Concerning his obvious connection with the unknown gunmen and his revealing confession of running an armory, I am urging the IGP, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the director-general of State Security Service (DSS) to investigate the kingpin and prosecute him accordingly.
“The IGP should revisit all the pending criminal cases, including the murder of the former DPO in-charge of Ibusa, CSP Dagogo, and Mr. Emeka Onianwa, against the kingpin, his wife, and all their accomplices and bring them to justice according to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Nigeria Police cannot give us the impression that a confirmed fraudster is above the laws of Nigeria when there had been high-profile criminal prosecutions of notable Nigerians more honorable and higher in status than him.
“The DG of the DSS should interrogate the powerful man over the N50 million he took from his people under the pretext of bribing the Supreme Court judges presiding over the land dispute between his village and Asaba.
“I am humbly requesting the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to, as a matter of moral necessity, investigate the high court judge that clandestinely granted an injunction against the arrest and prosecution of the said man and his wife for the murder of Mr. Emeka Onianwa. We are talking of a murder case, and for an honorable high court judge to grant an injunction against a murder trial smacks of complicity.
“The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation should critically look into the degree of connivance of the EFCC prosecutors with the kingpin in his never-ending cases of fraud, with the intent of frustrating his victims and, consequently, denying them justice.”
