•Police swing into action

By Nwabueze Okonkwo, Onitsha

The arrest of five youths from Uruebo village, Nkwelle-Ezunaka in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State on Tuesday, March 29, 2016, by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Awkuzu, Anambra State Police Command and their arraignment before an Nteje Chief Magistrate court on Friday, April 1, 2016 for alleged kidnap have continued to engender palpable tension in the area.

The youths protesting the arrest and trial of some of their members

The police had arrested and arraigned the suspects, Obinna Oduche, Vincent Obi Anyakorah, Okezie Morah, Chukwuebuka Okoye and Paschal Nweke and others still at large before the Chief Magistrate Court on a 14-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful possession of fire arms, kidnapping and ransom taking.

Their arrests followed a petition from some citizens of the area, including Godwin Okoye, Izunna Edogwogwu, Francis Onwuzulike and Barthlomew Obimma alleging that the suspects, armed with dangerous weapons, kidnapped them and collected the sums of N3,700, N66,000, N56,000 and N160,000 respectively from their (victims’) families as ransom before they could be released.

The police prosecution counsel had told the court that the accused persons and others still at large had on March 20, 2016 at a bush within the village, allegedly kidnapped the victims and collected the ransoms before releasing them.

But counsel to the defendants, Sylvester Ezeokenwa who appeared with Humphrey Udechukwu and Onugbogu, drew the attention of the court to a subsisting interim injunction made by Justice Amaechina of Otuocha High Court on March 17 restraining the Inspector-General of Police, IGP and his subordinates from arresting the suspects. The defence counsel therefore insisted that the Magistrate Court should not allow the prosecution to arraign the defendants based on the earlier High Court order which the police flouted and went ahead to arrest and arraign them on charges of kidnapping.

But the prosecution counsel maintained that the suspects were not arrested and arraigned before the court on the basis of a petition by Mr. Charles Obimma-led executive committee, rather on a criminal offence of kidnapping which they committed against the above mentioned complainants.

In his ruling, the presiding Chief Magistrate, Mr. Chukwuma Ibemesi, after hearing the argument of  both parties, overruled the defence lawyers, saying that he had carefully reviewed all the authorities cited by counsel to both sides and became convinced that the preliminary objection cannot stop the police from performing its constitutional duties of arresting, investigating and prosecuting of crimes.

Ibemesi further stated that a critical examination of the content of the case file shows that the present charge emanated from a petition from the kidnap victims to the police dated March 22, 2016, adding that the court had also observed that the interim order of an Otuocha High Court presided over by Justice D.O.C. Amaechina was made on March 17, 2016.

The court further declared: “By simple inference/analogy, this order was already in existence before the petition that activated the present charge before this court. It is equally clear that this interim order was not intended for a complaint that has not come into existence as at March 17, 2016 when the said order was made, adding, it is therefore my humble opinion that the police have their lawful duty to investigate and prosecute a complaint validly made to it”.

The court therefore ordered that the accused persons be remanded in Onitsha prison custody, while the witnesses would be bounded over in the sum of N40,000 each.

The court also ordered that the original copy of the police file containing the matter and the inventory of the exhibits be transmitted to the Attorney-General’s office, while the Assistant Registrar of the Court, ACR, forward the proceedings of the court to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP in Awka.

Against this background, some of the aggrieved youths, under the aegis of  Umuofia Uruebo Surveillance Committee staged a demonstration near Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, NOCEN few days after the remand of five of their members in the prison custody over the kidnap charge.

During the demonstration, the protesters carried placards with inscriptions: “Our brothers should be released from the prison custody”, “We demand immediate stoppage of further arrests of our members by SARS”, “The leaders of tomorrow say no to intimidation”.

Spokesman of the youths, Anthony Okafor, told newsmen during the exercise that their main grouse was that their members were arrested, arraigned and remanded in the prison custody, in spite of a subsisting order of a High Court.

Also in a petition to the IGP, dated April 20, 2016, the youths, through their legal counsel, S. C. Onyendilefu recalled that some time in April 2014, some executive members of Awgbu Youths Association led by its Chairman, Mr. Chinedu Akwuaku approached them for the sale of some plots of land situate at Ugwuagu/Oduela land, Uruebo village, Nkwelle-Ezunaka.

They contended that after series of negotiations between the executive members of the above-named association, they (the petitioners) agreed to the transfer of approximately 100 plots of land to the Awgbu Youths for a sum agreed between the parties, adding that in furtherance of this agreement, the Awgbu Youth association paid the sum of N6 million to the Uruebo youths association with an outstanding balance to be paid at a future date.

Outstanding balance

They said the Uruebo youths in turn, executed a Deed of Conveyance in respect of the said plots of land in favour of the Awgbu youths.

In a reaction, the chairman of Uruebo community, Mr. Charles Obimma told newsmen at the Obi Uruebo (village secretariat) that in the first place, Uruebo village does not have any youth organisation (surveillance committee or Umuofia) because the state government banned youth organisations in all the villages and communities in the state, some years ago.

Obimma said there is no land dispute in the area, except that they have some youths who have refused to engage themselves in any meaningful source of  livelihood and who in collaboration with some criminals from other towns in the state recently used their forest for kidnapping activities.