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I didn’t cause it, says lawmaker
By Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Some survivors of a deadly clash between men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and a team of policemen in Ebonyi State have narrated how they escaped death during the incident, which left a policeman dead and many people sustaining varying degrees of injuries.
The clash occurred last week at a mining pit in Amaeze community, Ishiagu, in Ivo Local Government Area of the state.
Chukwu Ajah, who narrated how he escaped bullet wounds during the incident, blamed the clash and the eventual death of the man on what he called “overzealousness and a Gestapo-style” operation displayed by the policemen, which, according to him, was not only thoroughly unprofessional but lacked the barest minimum of standard operating procedures.
“We closed work at our site around 4:33 p.m. on that Wednesday, and we wanted to go, and because that place is very dangerous due to Fulani herdsmen killing our community members, we asked the Civil Defence Officers guarding the site to escort us.
“As we were returning, we saw three police vans fully loaded with armed policemen numbering over 30. We were trying to give them a chance to pass, but we did not know that they came for us. In the end, they stopped our movement.
“The most senior Civil Defence personnel among the five officers with us stopped and asked them what the problem was. They (the police team) asked him, ‘Who are you?’ He replied, ‘I am the Civil Defence Officer guiding this company. They are under my control. If there is any problem, let me know.’ They said that our director, Pastor Dr Nathan Aniokwute, who is the Director of our firm, Hephzibah and Beulah Concepts Ltd, is under arrest.
“So the Civil Defence Officer, John, said, ‘Okay, give him an invitation, we will bring him to the police.’ They refused. He pleaded with them again, and they refused. They then collected his (the NSCDC Officer’s) gun and removed his magazines.
“He asked them to give him back his magazine and that they should allow them to bring the man (the Director) to them and that the man was under their custody as security personnel attached to the company, but they refused.
“Then they started beating the NSCDC Officer and beat him to a stupor and collected his gun and the magazine. They later threw away the gun and held the magazine. The NSCDC Officer said, ‘It is either you give me back my magazine or you kill me.’ They started shooting, and in the process, they wanted to shoot the Civil Defence Officer, but the bullet hit the police officer, Shedrack, and he died on the spot.
“At that point, they started beating the director and the Civil Defence Officer mercilessly. They collected the director’s car key, stripped him naked, and started torturing him like a common criminal,” Ajah, who said there was no prior invitation or petition sent to the director or the company, recounted, claiming that, from their conduct, they may have been on an illegal or unauthorised operation, he stated.
He said they were shocked that the police waylaid them despite serving notices to all the security agencies in the state, including the Commissioner of Police and the DPO of Ivo Division, before they moved into the site, maintaining that they were all aware that the company was moving to the site to begin their operations.
Ajah blamed the genesis of the crisis in the mineral-rich Amaeze community in the area on the village Chairman, whom he accused of collecting money from another miner who owns a company called Palladum and Zottmann in other areas in Ishiagu and promised to give him the site, which is legally owned by Hephzibah and Beulah, who have an operating licence.
His words: “Both the village Chairman and the Honourable member of the House of Representatives, Hon Kama Nkemkanma, said they don’t want the rightful owner of the licence, Pastor Dr Nathan.
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“There, the Cadastral told the petitioners in Hon Kama’s presence that the consent of a quarry or mining company is irrevocable and that the man (Pastor Nathan) has a valid licence, and therefore they should allow the man to carry out his operations.
“Kama and his group refused. We heard he had called the Oga of NSCDC that they should withdraw the officers at the site, and you know that mining is under them,” he claimed.
Another victim, Onyekachi Nwaeni, who sustained a gunshot injury on his foot during the incident and is currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital, narrated how he was hit by a stray bullet during the encounter.
“We finished working at our mining site, owned by a licensed miner, on that day, and we were already going home. We knew that there was a problem between the owner, and this trouble is being sponsored by one man called Victor, who wants to take over the mining site from the licensed owner. The Federal Government had given that owner a licence to mine there.
“But some people in the community went and ganged up with that Victor to take over that site by force through his own company, called Palladum or Zottmann. We heard he gave bribes to make sure that some stakeholders from the community take the place back from the lawful owner, and you know the government cannot give two persons a licence to mine there.
“And that rightful owner was now ready to start work on the site, but they doubted his capacity, saying he doesn’t even have the necessary equipment to mine there. Even the Commissioner for Solid Minerals had asked them to allow the licensed and rightful owner to do his business at the site, but they refused.
“Two days before the clash, the man surprised everybody by bringing in brand-new equipment to the site to commence work. I think they must have given the police wrong information about what happened, and that was why they (police) blocked us while we were on our way home alongside the Civil Defence Officers that were with us.
“They wanted to arrest some of us and the Civil Defence Officers that were with us. The officers (NSCDC) said there was no problem and that we should go together with them, including their Oga. It was then they (the policemen) started making trouble and shooting. That was how I and my brother were shot in the leg. I didn’t know myself again after the gunshot, but I was rushed to the hospital.”
Reacting to the incident and the allegation against him, the member representing Ohaozara, Onicha, and Ivo federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Nkemkanma Kama, said the community rejected Hephzibah and Beulah company for the mining business, and the company forced themselves on the community, which led to the crisis.
“How did I cause the crisis in Amaeze, how? There was a meeting the community held last Saturday over the mining issue, and I pleaded with the community to allow Hephzibah and Beulah company to come in, and they said they don’t want the company.
“At a point, we then said anyone who is supporting the company to operate in the community should queue up, and it was under the rain. My brother, not even a single person queued behind Pastor Nathan, the owner of this Hephzibah and Beulah company. The videos of everything that day are there for everybody to see.
“We then asked the man, ‘Will you go and work in Sambisa forest?’ and he said no, and we asked him, ‘Why do you want to go and work in a place where people don’t want you to come in?’
“I told him, since it is like this, I want you to quickly tell me how much you have spent in this transaction to ensure you don’t lose so that there will be peace. He refused this offer,” Kama said.
