By CHIDI NKWOPARA

LOCATING Madam Josephine Obilom from Abia Omuma autonomous community in Oru East local council area of Imo State soon after the news of her plight filtered into Owerri, was not very easy. This reporter traversed some local council areas in Orlu senatorial zone before finally locating the 40-year-old widow at Akata community, where she and two of her children are taking refuge.

On meeting her, it was obvious she had an interesting and pathetic story to tell. When eventually she began narrating her tale of woe, it was intermittently punctured by uncontrollable sobs. Her eyes became red as a flood of tears rolled freely down her cheeks.  For this reporter, patience was the key.

According to her, she got married to her husband when he lost his first wife. She had four children for the man, two boys and two girls, before he died in 2003. She informed she had single-handedly been training her children since her husband’s death. When the going became very tough after her husband died, some men in the community wanted to take advantage of her sorry situation and started making amorous advances to her.

Traits of stubbornness

*Madam Josephine Obilom

Madam Josephine not only affirmed that her late husband built a 12-room family house more than 15 years before she was married into the Obilom family, but also took Vanguard Features, VF, to the ruins that was once her beautiful family home.

Continuing, she confirmed that when she started noticing traits of stubbornness in her son, Uchenna, she promptly reported him to the traditional ruler, Eze Thaddeus Ukachukwu.

“I recall complaining to the traditional ruler (Eze Ukachukwu) about my son’s stubbornness. I did this about two or three times before the unforeseen happened about April this year,” the widow recounted with grief.

Madam Obilom also recalled that “one evening, I was told that five boys, including my son, Uchenna, were arrested by the vigilante group in our market, Orie Omuma”.

The police, she said, came one day with her son to search the entire house, adding that “nothing incriminating was recovered from the house but the police still took the boy away and I have not set my eyes on Uchenna thereafter”.

Continuing, Madam Obilom said: “I am not aware and  was never told that there was any criminal act the evening my son and others were arrested in the market place. I am not aware that he has been charged to any court for any known criminal act”.

While saying that the whole thing about her son has continued to be shrouded in mystery as her son is still missing till the time of the interview, Madam Obilom insists that somebody must be held to give account of her son’s whereabouts.

Continuing, the aggrieved widow recalled that she was still trying to come to terms with her son’s whereabouts when a group of armed men, suspected to be policemen, came to their home, allegedly on the instruction or express permission of the traditional ruler, with a bulldozer and demolished the family house. “I was not allowed to remove any pin from the house.

Today, I have not seen my son and I am homeless. I am now forced to move from one home to another in search of where my children and I can lay our heads. The traditional ruler has equally surveyed the land on which the family house once stood with a view to possibly appropriating it for whatever reason,” the aggrieved woman charged.

First son of Obilom reacts

“I am Chukwuzitere Obilom, the first son and head of Obilom’s family. Traditionally, I rightly own the house that was demolished. I am self- employed and resident in Benin, Edo State.

My late mother is from Benin. My parents built the house 20 years ago. We are five from my late mother’s side. My parents were buried in the compound that has been destroyed.

My step mother called one day to say that the house had been demolished. On very close investigation, I found that my half brother was allegedly arrested in the market square with some others.

I also found out that no kidnap victim was traced to the house on or before the date of the young man’s arrest and no stolen property was recovered from the house. It is therefore baffling why the house was demolished and the entire household forced into exile.”

A villager speaks: Confirming this development to VF, a villager who spoke on strict grounds of anonymity, said that “the five boys were arrested in front of Mr. Augustine Mba’s beer parlour located in Orie Omuma”.

The villager equally recalled that “Augustine Mba’s son, who only visited from his school to collect pocket money from his father that evening, was also arrested”, adding that “this boy’s whereabouts equally remains a mystery till date”.

He also denied knowledge of any attempt to commit any criminal act on the day the five boys were picked up or prior to their alleged arrest by Imo Security Network. He was of the view that those who arrested or are keeping the boys should be forced to release them unconditionally or press charges on them in any court of the land.

What the villager equally found to be a double standard on the part of the royal father was that the family house of his nephew, ThankGod Ukachukwu, was not pulled down like in the case of the Obiloms.

“Granted that the parents of the royal father’s nephew are dead, we are not aware that their family house was pulled down by the group that unceremoniously sacked the widow and her children from their ancestral home,” the man fumed.

Contacted for his reaction on  his alleged involvement in the matter, the royal father was able to give a graphic account in his defence.

Eze Thaddeus Ukachukwu reacts: “I lived in the United States of America with my family, where I worked and retired before coming back home to take over the throne after the death of my father. “Two years ago when I travelled to the US for medical check up, there were a lot of reports of killing and kidnapping in my community. About seven people were reportedly killed.

“When I came back, I decided to confront the problem head-on, as I had lost my workers. The chairman of the vigilante group resigned due to the problem. My people were going to neighbouring villages at night for refuge because of fear.

“I made some research the way Igbos do their things. My personal investigation revealed that the problem could be handled in a native way. I made a personal financial commitment of N1 million and I was assured that the crime would stop and anybody who made an attempt would be caught.

“At about 8pm one day, a group of people brought somebody, who was naked to my palace, saying he was caught snatching a bag a few poles from my place. On interrogation, the suspect said he came from Mgbidi and I handed him over to the police.

“After a few days, there was an attempted kidnapping at the market square. The suspects were ready to go and they got caught by Imo Security Network. The operatives suspected them due to their movement.

“Imo Security Network recovered all kinds of equipment and ammunition, some AK 47 guns and magazines. The police were contacted and they came from Owerri to pick them up that night.

“As the police was taking them to Owerri, very close to Njaba Bridge, one of the boys, the leader of the group, attempted to drag the vehicle into the Njaba River but the police overpowered him and shot him and took the rest to Owerri.

“Uchenna Obilom, a boy with only his left hand, was one of the five caught. My nephew, ThankGod Ukachukwu and their leader whom I don’t know, was from Okporo in Orlu Local Government Area. On reaching the State Police Command, the suspects were told that if they tell the truth, they would be allowed to go and they confessed.

“In their confession, they admitted committing the crimes in the community, including the killing and kidnapping. They also confessed that I would have been the next if they had not been caught because my family is in the US and my in-laws have money. But as God would have it, they were caught.

“It was also revealed that this Obilom whose house was demolished, was making N1 million in every operation. He used to keep the kidnapped victim and collects N1 million per victim. One of the kidnapped victims from Umutanze, the traditional ruler of Umutanze, confirmed he overheard them at a funeral ceremony he attended that the next place would be in Omuma, which was myself.

“So, anybody who saw what happened  during that period and feel sorry for these individuals that were caught is just making my people unhappy. After the arrest,  people came from Owerri to demolish the house. I don’t know them. They did not come to my house.

Arrest and demolition

They went straight to the place and pulled down the house. ThankGod Ukachukwu’s house that was at the foundation level, was also demolished and the blocks broken to pieces. After the arrest and demolition, people were happy because there has been no robbery and kidnapping.

Who demolished the widow’s house?

I do not know where they came from but they are government officials. One of my guards went to ask them if the Eze knew about their mission and they said no. They even rough-handled him. So, if you ask me if they are tall or short, I don’t know. I am very happy with the event in my domain.

The law says if you are caught for kidnapping and the government certifies that you are a kidnapper, your house would be pulled down. The so-called widow was there when all the kidnapped victims were being kept in her house.

I called her to this palace with her son and she denied that anything was happening. She only admitted that her son was just stubborn. All the while, they have been disturbing my community but now that they have been caught, let them face the music. One of them was my cousin, ThankGod. He had a house under construction and the house was pulled down. I was told that one of the suspects has about N16 million in his account.

Plan to appropriate widow’s land: Somebody suggested that we can go over there (the widow’s family house) and survey the place and later apply to the government to let us use the place for motor park. So we went and surveyed the two sites and right now, we are trying to liaise with the government on whether we can get the place. Because the law says if a place is demolished, it belongs to the government. No individual can build in the place.

In a nutshell, I don’t have any ulterior motive. I don’t even know if government will allow us to use the place or not. I don’t have anything to do with it  personally and that decision can be revoked tomorrow and we will forfeit the money we spent to do the survey.

The Obiloms (house) was cut down because the kidnapped victims were kept there. The Eze of Umutanze was kept there too. So, I am in support of tearing the place down because the place is a stone throw to the palace and this kind of thing was happening and nobody knew. You can get more information from SARS (Special Anti Robbery Squad). I don’t know what orders they have and I did not ask after what they were doing.

Where are the suspects now?Uchenna Obilom, ThankdGod Ukachukwu and the others have not come back since their arrest. Whether they are dead or alive, we do not know. What we know is that there is peace in the place. What happened was what usually happen to kidnappers. The kidnappers have been kidnapped.

Police angle: When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mrs. Joy Elemoko, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the police had no hand in the demolition of the widow’s family home.

“The group was involved in one of the deadliest attacks in Imo State. Uchenna Obilom alias One Arm General, is the second in command to a 15-man deadly kidnapping squad that attacked the Niger Plaza Hotel, Oguta on February 24, 2013 and the process, they shot and killed the owner of the hotel and two policemen.

“The gang were dressed in military uniform, while heavily armed with sophisticated weapon. They took the two AK 47 rifles of the dead police officers and wen away. Police commenced investigations immediately and within six hours, one of them, who was found in blood-stained dress, was arrested in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“The subject under reference here and some members of the gang were engaged in a very serious gun battle with the police. In the course of this action, some of them sustained serious and varying degrees of bullet wounds.”