From Magnus Eze, Enugu

The crisis at Nteje Community in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, has left the family of 57-year-old Emmanuel Anukwu and his wife, Tochukwu, in mourning.

Thursday, June 16, 2022, will remain a sad day in their memories, following the shooting of their son, Oluebube Anukwu, by yet-to-be-identified security operatives who came to the community for an undisclosed operation.

The 22-year-old Oluebube was hit by bullets fired by the team and he died as a result of the injuries he sustained. At least six others who equally suffered gunshot injuries are still in critical condition in different hospitals.

But the case of Chief Benneth Chinweze, acting president-general of Nteje, was different because he was blindfolded and his hands and legs tied after he was forced to stop his vehicle and was bundled into the back of a Hilux truck.

The 67-year-old community leader is still receiving treatment in a hospital following the rough handling and injuries the security operatives inflicted on him.

Daily Sun learnt that Nteje community has been embroiled in leadership crises of late and the cause was traced to its nearness to the recently constructed Anambra State International Cargo Airport, Umueri.

Value of land has continued to appreciate in the community, which could be accessed from the Enugu/Onitsha expressway from either Awka, the state capital, or Onitsha, the commercial hub of the state, from Awkuzu Junction.

Anukwu, who lost his son in the June 16 incident, said he would never wish to have a repeat of what he saw that day in his life. According to him, the day started normally for the residents of the community, as people were engaged in their daily activities until about 10.30am when they started hearing repeated gunshots in Amanato Ifite Nteje community.

Sensing danger, Anukwu said that most people, especially men, ran for safety to enable them ascertain the true picture of what was happening. He said it was from his hiding place that he received a telephone call from his wife that their son, Oluebube, was shot on his way back from the Eziudo side of Nteje on getting to Ashiama Liquor Spot, where he saw the masked gunmen kitted in black attire.

He said Oluebube told them that he was coming back on his motorcycle when they ordered him to stop, alleging that he saw Nnamdi Uwadiegwu and Paul Neli, popularly called ‘Atiku’, in the company of the strange visitors.

He said that the shooting that commenced shortly after Oluebube arrived made him to abandon his motorcycle and run. It was in the young man’s bid to escape that they shot him.

Anukwu, who is the secretary of land committee in his village, added that it was in a nearby bush path where the son fell that people sighted him and drew the attention of his wife who then alerted him.

He said: “When I came out, we immediately hired a vehicle and rushed him to the hospital and it was there that he gave us these details.

“But due to the fact that it was big security gun, which I suspect could be AK47 that the operatives used in shooting my son, the injuries were challenging for the medical personnel to control and, on June 18, he died in the hospital.

“After his death, we took his body to the Divisional Police Station, Nteje, and made a report.”

Anukwu stated that the DPO told them his office was not informed before the operation took place, adding that he would do a report on the incident to the Anambra State commissioner of police on the matter.

He said the DPO thereafter directed his men to assist in helping to deposit the body of his son in the morgue.

Giving more details on the devastating June 16 incident, Anukwu said people ran away because the operatives who came in about five Hilux trucks covered their faces and conducted themselves in a manner suggesting their mission was to kill.

He said, before the incident, Amanato Ifite Nteje was having problems of leadership in the community. Anukwu, who explained that the level of crisis in the community had caused some people to abandon their homes, including himself, appealed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo to urgently intervene in the matter: “I plead with our governor to urgently intervene in the crisis currently rocking Nteje to restore peace in the area.

“I equally call on one of our prominent indigenes, Chief Mike Nwakalor, popularly known as Wowo, to help in restoring peace because, even though he (Nwakalor) is not residing at home, he knows most things happening in Nteje community.”

His wife, Tochukwu, corroborated the account, regretting that their son died without accomplishing his ambitions.

“Oluebube trained in fashion business in Lagos, but was not settled by the person he served. So, he came and began to ride Okada with the aim of raising fund to enable him establish his own business, before he was killed,” she said.

According to her, notwithstanding that her son was killed, the family is still living in fear due to threats by one of the persons causing crisis in the community, who at times entered their compound to threaten further action.

She said the security agents who killed her son, after their operation, carried some of the abandoned motorcycles away, including her son’s.

The distraught woman lamented that, apart from her son, three other persons have lost their lives due to the crisis in Nteje community.

“We have three persons that their bodies are still in the mortuary. One has been there for three years, another has stayed two years and one has been there for about eight months, in addition to my son, making them four,” she said.

She disclosed that the family would like to conduct the burial of their son soon, but the atmosphere in the community was still tensed.

“My son was killed exactly one month after the police released my husband after keeping him for five days in detention over frivolous allegations.

“As it stands now, we do not know when to bury Oluebube because people are still afraid and some abandoned their homes and relocated elsewhere for safety.

“My appeal is for Governor Soludo to urgently intervene because the problem is fast spreading across the entire Nteje community.

“If the armed men bundled the president-general of the community and gave him the kind of dehumanizing treatment, which kept him helpless in the hospital, who else do you feel would be comfortable staying in Nteje?” she queried.

Chinweze, who could barely recount his ordeal when he was interviewed at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Amaku, thanked God that he did not die in the process.

He said that he could not identify the perpetrators of the dastardly act since he was blindfolded but disclosed that he later found himself at the state headquarters of the Department of State Service (DSS), from where the director brought him to the hospital.

Like the Anukwus, Chinweze heaped the blame on the doorsteps of Nwakalor whom he said had always used surrogates to petition security agencies, raking up frivolous allegations against people in the community.

He noted that he became a target because those who fell out with Nwakalor joined his ‘camp’ in the community.

“I was driving when, suddenly, some persons who all covered their faces double-crossed my vehicle and ordered me out.

“They forced me into their Hilux truck, tied my legs and hands and blindfolded me before they began to treat me like a common criminal.

“This incident took place on Thursday, June 16, but it was on Friday, June 17, that I regained consciousness in hospital.

“As you can see, I cannot raise my two hands or use them to eat and bathe. I am just helpless here as you can see”, he said.

However, Nwakalor denied having a hand in what happened in the community on June 16, adding that he was not involved in land-grabbing. But as a community leader, he stated that he made some inquiries after the incident and discovered that there was actually a petition to the DSS, which prompted the operation.

Nwakalor said: “I learnt that the so-called caretaker chairman, because his tenure had expired since last year, sent young men to go and destroy peoples’ houses. Over 40 houses were destroyed and many people injured. Based on that, the chairman of the village petitioned authorities like the police, DSS, army, that there are some people who are destroying people’s houses, and they went into action. On their way, there is another village called Ifite, where young men now terrorize people, they block roads and they always engage the police with their local guns.

“I further gathered that those who got gunshots blocked security operatives without knowing that they were a special squad on duty and, in the exchange of gunfire, some of them got injured.

“Regarding Chief Chinweze, he had a petition against him and when security operatives came for him, he tried to evade arrest.”

Spokesman for the community, Martins Okechukwu, said seven persons, including Chinweze, were wounded by those who carried out the bloody operation.

“Before now, Nteje had been a peaceful community; but in the past 10 years, all that we have been facing are incessant attacks and arrest of our people and in some cases they are taken to Abuja where they suffer grievously,” he said.

Okechukwu said Nteje community today has about four army checkpoints, which some privileged individuals take undue advantage of to harass residents.

Police public relations officer in Anambra State, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the command was not aware of the incident.

He urged the affected people to come up with information that could help police wade into the matter.