…Justice Ministry Refutes Allegations
A United States of America based activist, Mr Bona Ezekwenna, has accused the Anambra State Ministry of Justice of aiding and abetting crime in the state. This follows what he described as his experience in the hands of a land grabber in the state, reports Jude Atupulazi.
Ezekwenna, who called on the Governor of the state, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to delve into the matter, made the allegation at a press briefing with the media, Monday, in Awka, at which he alleged harassment, intimidation, forceful take of his landed property and threat to his life by a suspected land-grabber at Nnobi Community in Idemili South Local Government Area of the State.
He said the suspect and other gangsters threatening his life and terrorizing the state at large were being aided and abetted by Prosecutors at the Anambra State Ministry of Justice, accusing them of demanding huge sums of money from him, ranging from N150,000 to N1 million before handling his case. This is even as the State Justice Ministry has denied the allegations, saying it had warned Mr Ezekwenna against giving money to their prosecutors.
But addressing the media, Monday, Ezekwenna said, ‘My problem started after about 40 years sojourn in the United States of America, I decided to invest in my hometown, Nnobi, on September 2, 2021, when I bought an uncompleted property at Nnobi for ten million Naira. I paid with bank draft according to the laws of Nigeria, and I killed a goat on the land according to Nnobi and Igbo Customs and Traditions. As I began to develop the property, a land-grabber stormed and attacked the place, threatening violence. He stated that he bought the property a year before me for N20m cash and he demanded N20m from me to continue development.
‘He demolished my property and stole my building materials. He also stated he was a native doctor and ran several deadly shrines in Nnobi Town and other places. He told me that police from the local station to State Police Headquarters to the IGP office are on his hands and inside his pocket.
‘I made inquiry who the fellow is and found out that I have stumbled upon hardcore heinous criminal syndicates (Yahoo+cult shrines gangsters), kidnaping, killing and dismembering people, assassinating, robbing, burning police station, land-grabbing terrorizing and destabilizing communities in Anambra State, Nigeria. These criminals pretend they are native doctors and traditionalists but they are actually what is known within law enforcement in Nigeria as yahoo+crimes, which includes violent land-grabbing.
‘Even the leadership of the Nnobi Town are so scared of these yahoo+ cult gangsters and their syndicates because of their connections to very rich people in society and law enforcement (police), judiciary officials and persecutors.
‘The information on the atrocities of the syndicates are hidden on plain sights, they are open secret. Dead bodies and dismembered dead bodies are appearing on the roadside and bushes at Nnobi and surrounding towns, especially at Obi-Aja Stream which is about 15/20 minutes’ walk from Nnobi Police Station and less than 3 minutes’ drive to Ojoto, the Headquarters of Idemili South Local Government Area,’ he said.
Ezekwenna is therefore asking Soludo to, among other things, order an independent review of the handling of his cases by the Attorney General; direct immediate prosecution of the suspects in line with the FCID investigation reports of 12 October 2022 and 5 February 2024; discipline erring officers (including Barr Jerry Emebie and Barr Ifediora) whose conduct, he said, had compromised the integrity of the state; provide his adequate protection, his family and legal representatives owing to persistent threats to their lives.
When initially contacted on the phone, the State Attorney General, Barr Mrs Silvia Ifemeje, said all questions should be directed to her boss, the Governor, noting that she had severally warned Ezekwenna against giving money to the ministry’s prosecutors.
Later, however, she gave a full response, inter alia: ‘A certain man, sent me text messages on WhatsApp from the United States and claimed that a State Counsel under the Ministry of Justice, Mr Emebie, charged him a certain amount of money to handle a criminal case involving him as a nominal complainant and he has refused to handle the matter despite the money he paid him. I called a conference meeting involving me, the AG, the Director of Public Prosecution, himself and his lawyer from Abuja.
‘At the meeting, Emebie denied outright, the allegations and said in response that he neither charged him nor received any money from him. I warned the man in question not to give money to my state counsel because the government pays them for their services. He claimed he didn’t know that he was not supposed to pay to state counsel for their services. I reprimanded him for, over indulging my state counsel. I thereafter assigned another State Counsel, Mrs Ifediora, to continue where Emebie stopped.
‘Sometime in July, while in I was in Lagos on official assignment, he called again to protest that Mrs Ifediora collected the sum of 150,000 from him and failed to defend him. I got angry and asked him why he was spoiling my State Counsels by offering them money despite my warnings. I reminded him that I had earlier warned him to desist from giving them money.
I now told him that since he has continued giving money to my State Counsels as he alleged against my warnings, I will not assign any more state counsel to handle his case again. I advised him to look for any private lawyer of his choice and I will grant fiat to him to go on with the prosecution of his matter as he has been indulging in spoiling my State Counsels with money and blackmailing them thereafter.
‘Today (last Monday), he held a press conference alleging all manner of things against the Ministry of Justice. Meanwhile, an investigation panel has been set up headed by the Perm Sec of the Ministry, Ngozi Iwuno, to investigate his allegations against these State Counsel.’
For now, it is a wait and see game, as each party ponders on the next move.
