Vanguard, TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013—29
•Senate committees members ...seeking to unravel the mystery of the Ezu River murders
Ezu River: The unending mystery Continues from page 28
command did not understand those technicalities as it had left them in the hands of medical experts. Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ikeako, also said the pathologists had not briefed him. He also urged those seeking information on the matter to wait for the findings of the autopsy. Ikeako said the state government had spent N1.5 million on the morticians and those who evacuated the bodies, with more bills for the autopsy and em-
pened within hours of the bodies being found. Testifying later during the Senate committees’ public hearing at the Government House, Awka, Nasarawa, said the police were not involved in the burial. According to him, it was the responsibility of the Awka North Local Government to bury them, with the supervision of the police. He said: “When the governor cut short his visit outside the country and returned because of the incident, he asked me
The police in Anambra State did not kill anybody or dump corpses in the river. I am against extra judicial killing and I have warned my officers and men not to indulge in extra- judicial killing
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balming. Senate probes:The Senate asked two of its committees to investigate the issue following a motion moved by Senator Andy Uba representing Anambra South. Senate committees comprising Paulinus Nwagu, Chairman, Committee on Police Affairs; Mohammed Magoro, Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Intelligence; Solomon Ewuga, Mohammed Sami Sani, Dr. Chris Ngige and Alhaji Shaaba Lafiagi visited the traditional ruler of Amansea, Igwe Okonkwo, the initial burial site on the bank of Ezu River, before they commenced a public inquiry at the Government House, Awka. The committees observed that nobody from Ugwuoba in Enugu, which shares boundaries with Amansea, was available to speak on the mystery deaths. Vanguard visited Ugwuoba before the arrival of the senate committees and was informed that none of its members was missing. However, the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Nasarawa curiously told the Senate committees investigating the mysterious discoveries that the decomposing bodies were buried immediately following a court order. Nasarawa did not say who instituted the suit, those sued and how that hap-
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about the evacuation and the arrangement for the burial and I told him it was not the duty of the police and that it is the responsibility of the local government. “He then asked us to put heads together to decide on what to do to protect the health of the villagers whose environment had been polluted.”He further explained that the police were still trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the discovery of the bodies, pointing out that a Deputy Commissioner of Police from the Force Headquarters was leading detectives in the investigation which is yet to be completed. He further said that there was a serious problem in carrying out the assignment because of what he described as the refusal of people to come up with useful information despite the pledge of N5 million by Governor Peter Obi to anybody that would offer useful information on the incident. The commissioner also told members of the committee that there has not been any arrest on the matter, but promised that “very soon, the police will achieve the desired result.” MASSOB petitions: As the controversy continued, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, claimed that some of
the dead bodies were its members earlier arrested by the police in Onitsha and detained at the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, headquarters, Awkuzu.
Relations of detained members MASSOB director of information, Comrade Uchenna Madu in a petition to President Goodluck Jonathan gave the names of the MASSOB members as Basil Ogbu, Michael Ogwa, Sunday Omogo, Philip Nwamkpa, Eze Ndubuisi, Ebuka Eze, Obinna Ofor, Joseph Udoh and Uchechukwu Ejiofor. He said: “They were arrested at MASSOB security office at Onitsha, Anambra State on November 9, 2012 by a combined team of Nigeria security agents and were later handed over to SARS headquarters, Awkuzu, Anambra State. Some of our disguised members and relations of the detained members were denied access to them, including medical assistance.
The state Director of the Department State Security, DSS, Mr. Alexander Okeiyi, also told members of the Senate committees that as part of the investigation, checks had been carried out in communities in Enugu State and when nothing could be established, checks were extended to Ebonyi and Cross River States which had been experiencing communal clashes, but found out that the number of casualties in such skirmishes were not up the figure discovered in Ezu River. Akunyili reacts: Former Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili, who reacted on the Ezu River saga, asked security agencies to tell Nigerians the source of the dead bodies, arguing that if security operatives could not tell Nigerians what really happened, then Nigerians were no longer safe. She said: “If these people were killed, who killed them and why were they killed? Again, the mass burial that was hurriedly done was what I did not understand. There ought to have been proper identification before the corpses were buried.” •Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi Akunyili also wicked act could happen be- dismissed the claim by MAScause according to them, a com- SOB, that some of the dead bodprehensive police reformation ies were members of the group, on human rights is being car- asking, where they were since ried out by the Inspector Gen- the bodies were found on Ezu River several weeks ago? Aceral of Police, IGP.” Nasarawa described the MAS- cording to her, if some of their SOB claim as baseless, noting: members were missing, MAS“I have the names of the peo- SOB would have been the first ple published as victims and we set of people to go to Ezu River checked with our records and to find out if their detained
•Residents and visitors at the Ezu river
Efforts by our legal counsel to secure their bail from the police were futile. Our demands for their arraignment before a competent court of law were frustrated by security officers. They claimed that the court was not sitting because of Christmas. We got information from an insider that MASSOB members detained were secretly killed along side other robbery suspects. “Our lawyers who confidently waited for their arraignment in January 2013 did not believe that such barbaric, primitive and
discovered that there were no such names. We have records of all MASSOB members we arrested and many of them are in Awka and Onitsha prisons and facing trial in court. “The prison authorities usually write us whenever they are taking them to court and I want to say that they are still being detained. The police in Anambra State did not kill anybody or dump corpses in the river. I am against extra judicial killing and I have warned my officers and men not to indulge in extra- judicial killing.”
members were the victims, adding that for them to wait for one month after the discovery to claim that some of the dead bodies were their members was merely to add to the confusion. Only source of water in the community: The river which has provided water for the people of Amansea area of Anambra could not pass any test of purity as its colour remained brownish, yet this is their only source of water for drinking and other domestic uses. To be concluded C M Y K