…Stakeholders Seek Solution
By Jude Atupulazi
Awka, the Capital of Anambra State, has had a long drawn battle among cult groups in the city. Some people however believe the orgy of killings have affected some others who may not be cultists, thus, fueling the belief that what is happening could be targeted assassinations under the veneer of the already tensed atmosphere of cult clashes.
Though the battle has been a long one, already spanning years, the clashes have assumed a kind of guerilla warfare, with the clashes coming and going intermittently. Indeed, happenings in the city since Easter Sunday have left many wondering if there will be any youth left in the city if such continues.
Fides has followed the developments and reports that the major problem seems to be a struggle by groups, for the control of revenue windows, especially those involving collection of taxes from bus drivers and commercial tricyclists, otherwise known as keke.
Fides investigation shows that no fewer than 13 persons have been gunned down in just two weeks in the city. The orgy of killings started on Easter Sunday, when as many as six youths were reported to have been gunned down.
A source told Fides that while the Easter merriment was being observed by Christians to commemorate the resurrection of Christ, the happiness of some people were cut short by gunmen. ‘While some were felled at the Okpuno Area, behind Juhel, some happened around Eke Awka Area and Obinagu,’ a source said.
One of the incidents was said to have happened opposite Dike Park, around the Eke Awka Market, in Awka, the State capital, where the rampaging cultists reportedly stormed the area in their numbers.
According to sources, ‘The incident happened in the noon hours of Sunday, and also escalated to the Obinagu Area, where some more persons were also gunned down by the cultists.
It was gathered that one of the persons hit by a bullet was a staff of the Anambra State Judiciary, simply identified as Mr. Nwofor, who was said to be innocently going about his normal business before the cultists struck.
A resident of Awka who did not want his name mentioned, said: ‘I suspected that there will be cult killings this period. You know that most wanted cultists have left town, but during festive periods, they always come home to celebrate and their rivals use the opportunity to pay them back for their past atrocities which may include killing of their members.’
Just seven days after the Easter killings, on a Sunday, three other persons also suspected to belong to secret cults were gunned down in the city. Though security operatives could not confirm the number, a source said that two of the victims were killed in her presence.
The source said: ‘Two tricycles were driving recklessly along Zik’s Avenue at Eke Awka. They were pursuing themselves. At around Eke Awka Market, the tricycle in front got stuck in the traffic, and one boy inside it alighted and started running. Two boys in the tricycle behind also jumped down and pursued him. He ran towards Parkers Area along Zik’s Avenue, and diverted into a road by the right into a mechanic’s workshop.
‘The boys pursued him into the place, dragged him out and shot him to death. The incident caused pandemonium and people were just running in all directions. For me, I didn’t even know I could run that fast,’ the source said.
Not done, two days after the incident, on a Tuesday, another person described as Nwanayoeze, a popular Awka youth, was gunned down around the Tricycle Park, Unizik Junction.
Traders around Unizik Junction confirmed that Nwanayoeze was a very prominent youth in the entire area and also controlled revenue from tricycle operators in the area and was feared by many people, even though they denied that he had any link with cultism.
The killings however did not abate. Thursday of same week, a former President General of Amansea Community in Awka North Local Government Area, Chief Cajetan Nwokike, was killed at his home. His killers were said to have entered his home and shot him while he was performing kola nut rituals.
On Friday too, at Unizik Junction, a man identified as Christian was gunned down. He is said to be an indigene of Enugu State, but managed a popular transport company in Awka that had fleets of luxury SUVs ferrying passengers to Abuja and Lagos.
He was gunned down in the presence of his co-workers by gunmen who came in a yellow tricycle. Eyewitnesses said the assailants were not in a hurry to leave after the assignment, as they entered the tricycle and drove away slowly.
On Wednesday evening last week, gunmen caused pandemonium at Aroma Junction. A youth, who was said to hail from Amudo Village in Awka, and said to be a former tricycle operator before transiting into a revenue collector, was gunned down. A source said the assailants trailed him from the Ifite Area of the state capital and shot him at close range at a filling station which serves as a popular bus stop for buses and tricycles.
Business outfits in the area were forced to close shop and roadside traders abandoned their articles and fled.
The major roads in the vicinity of the incident suddenly became empty, just as many people abandoned their cars and took to their heels.
While the incident happened on Wednesday evening, residents of the town awoke to same news of killing in the same junction the next morning. This time, an official of the Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency (ARTMA) was the victim.
A source said: ‘The man who was killed is an ARTMA official. He stopped some people who were driving a Toyota Sienna vehicle with tinted glasses and the people shot him and drove off. It happened just close to me as I was boarding a vehicle this morning to go to Nnewi.’
In all these, security agencies seemed to be overwhelmed. In one of his responses to, the Anambra State Police Command’s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, complained that families of deceased people did not notify the police in order for investigations to commence. He insisted that operatives were deployed to the areas of the incident but no news of any killing was gathered.
Fides however, gathered that deceased person’s bodies are usually quickly removed by family members to avoid confiscation by the police.
Meanwhile, in a recent press conference, the police stated its frustration, saying that most cult kingpins arrested by the police were being freed by very influential people in the city.
The outgoing Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, CP Aderemi Adeoye, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, DCP, Akin Fakorede, who attended an NUJ Congress to brief journalists, said: ‘When those things that have happened over a period of time begin to happen again, the question people should ask is Why? Could you imagine that the cultists we arrested, charged to court, and got remanded in prison custody, that some powerful locals are going to the judiciary to lobby to get them released? And some have been released. And they are the ones unleashing this mayhem again! That is number one.
‘Two, you must have heard of the AK-47 we recently recovered from a suspect in Awada. What the suspect told us was that they procured it for him to engage in a showdown with a rival cult group. Now, if that AK-47 was not recovered or had joined the recent cult-related clash, could you imagine what the casualty level would have been? We are already going after the cultists and if we find that anybody is subverting justice, or is subverting due process to get the cultists off the hook, they will face the music, notwithstanding whether the person is in the judiciary or civil populace,’ he assured.
Currently, major stakeholders in Awka who are worried at the orgy of bloodletting have started working towards finding lasting solutions to the problem.
Three prominent sons of Awka: the member representing Awka South 1 Constituency, Hon Henry Mbachu; the Managing Director of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA), Mr. Ossy Onuko and the Transition Committee Chairman of Awka South Local Government Area, Mr. Anagor ThankGod, have teamed up to get security agencies to stop the killings and also get the governor of the state, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to react.
Addressing newsmen on behalf of the three after a meeting, the Managing Director of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority, Mr. Onuko, said, ‘Finding a lasting solution to the security challenges is necessary as the elected and appointed officers owe it as a duty to the people to keep Awka safe, not just for residents but for thousands of investors trooping into the city.’
Fides however noticed that Friday evening that as a result of the frequent cases of killings, men of the Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SPACS) had mounted guard at Aroma Junction.
Meanwhile, a popular activist in Awka, Comrade Osita Obi, who spoke to Fides, said it was unfair that Governor Soludo was yet to utter a word over the killings. He said: ‘Soludo is doing very well in infrastructure, but protection of life and property is the major reason we elect leaders. He needs to say something.’
However, in what must be cheering news to many people resident or doing business in Awka, the Anambra State House of Assembly, Tuesday, passed a bill seeking to prohibit secret cultism and similar activities and to provide for relevant matters.
Fides understands, that the law is meant to create and enforce effective means of eradicating Secret cultism in the state. It is however hoped that the law when signed into law, will not go the way of the one on Anti-Open Grazing signed into law in 2021 but which has not been implemented.
Additional report from Jude Atupulazi
