Five Arrested, Two Dead Over Land Tussle In Anambra State
Following a land dispute at Odumodu Umunya in the Oyi local government area of Anambra State, two people were killed and five others were arrested.
At a news conference in Awka, the community identified the victims as Okwudili Okeke and Paul Nwabuebo, while the five people whose identities were not revealed are being held in Asaba, Delta State.
Mr. Obiora Umeh, counsel to the Odumodu community, told reporters that following the incident, members from the community’s vigilante outfit have been detaining people randomly, prompting the community’s males to evacuate their homes.
According to Umeh, several women in the village have been detained in place of their husbands and male children when the men were unavailable, and as a result, all of the community’s able-bodied men have fled.
“Our findings showed that those that were arrested were detained by the men of the vigilante group and thereafter handed over to the police at Nteje Police Station,” he said.
“The matter was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Awka where it was found out that none of them had anything to do with the murder of the two people.
“Surprisingly, the same people were sent back to the SCID which eventually granted them bail, but despite meeting the bail conditions, they were yet to be released.
“Odumodu people have also petitioned the Inspector General of Police, IGP urging him to investigate thoroughly the murder of the two people.
“Although the IGP has assigned the matter to Zone 13 Police, Ukpo, up till today, no arrest has been made. Rather, another person, Ebuka Oraegbunam was arrested by the men of the vigilante group.
“In a twist, some people in Umunya who aided the police to arrest the leader of the vigilante group over the killing of the two people were arrested and paraded naked in the villages in Umunya and taken to Asaba where Ebuka was already in detention. Based on this, we took the matter to court to enforce their fundamental human rights”.
The trouble began in 2015, according to Comrade Sunday Estado, Secretary of the Odumodu Community Improvement Union, when the traditional ruler of Umunya, Igwe Chris Onyekwulije, established a parallel administration for Odumodu.
“We went into exile for more than six months. It was after the police investigation that the police said we had no case to answer and we were asked to return home.
“Later the Igwe took two people to court and abandoned the case and the court later dismissed the case. The Attorney General of the State also wrote a report and cleared us of any wrongdoing”, Esedo said.
“We want Governor Willie Obiano to intervene in this matter to douse the tension in our area. We call on the governor to set up a commission of inquiry to look into what is happening in Odumodu in particular and Umunya in general because a lot of activities are going on in our town,” he continued.
“We also urge the police to carry out a thorough investigation into the killing of the two people whose corpses are still in the mortuary several months after they were gruesomely murdered”.
