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The rested third term project reverberated yesterday at the All Ndigbo Summit in Owerri, the Imo State capital, as the Ohanaeze President, Professor Joe Irukwu was stopped from addressing the crowd by delegates who shouted “saboteurs.”
The Pro-third term Senators and Federal House of Representatives members including Senators Arthur Nzeribe, Ifeanyi Ararume and Eze Ajoku were booed as they walked away from the crowd who humiliated them.

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Meanwhile, Nzeribe received the shock of his life at the Igbo Political Summit in Owerri as he was booed out of the Sam Mbakwe Conference Hall of the Imo Concorde Hotel, venue of the summit, for his alleged ignoble roles during the third term saga, while the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Prof. Joe Irukwu, was not allowed to deliver his prepared speech.

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Seven Years After Gory Murder in Owerri
Otokoto 7 to Die by Hanging

From ThisDay News
January 24, 2003
by Chuks in Owerri


The eight year-old Otokoto saga in which an 11 year-old boy, master Ikechuk-wu Okonkwo was murdered in an Owerri Hotel on September 19, 1996, came to the fore once again yesterday when the Justice Chioma Nwosu Iheme court passed a death sentence by hanging on all the seven accused persons.

Presiding judge, Justice Iheme handed down the judgement at about 1.20p.m yesterday after a four-hour address, during which she recaptured submissions of the defence and prosecution respectively.

The condemned men are: Alban Ajaegbu, Sampson Nnamito, Ebenezer Egwuekwe and Rufus Anyanwu.

Others are Lawrence Eboh, Chief Leonard Unogu and Chief Vincent Duru alias Otokoto.

The seven accused, the judge said, were condemned to death for colluding with one another not only to murder Master Okonkwo but also masterminding the secret killing of many others, among them one Mr. Sebastine reported to have been killed in the Lagos home of Unogu.

On conclusion of her report, the judge said: "you Alban Ajaegbu are to be hanged until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.

"You Sampson Nnamito are to be hanged until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.

"You Ebenezer Egwuekwe are to be hanged until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.

"You Rufus Anyanwu are to be hanged in the neck until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.

"You Lawrence Eboh are to be hanged in the neck until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.

"You Chief Leonard Unogu are to be hanged until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul.

"You Chief Vincent Duru are to be hanged until you be dead. May God have mercy on your soul."

In an emotion-laden voice, Justice Nwosu described the judgment as "truth is like oil on water. No matter what, it shall always float. The law is clear on consequences of their offences. Since I can't change it, so be it.

"I therefore find first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh accused person guilty of the offence of murder as charged."

She described Unogu as a very intelligent citizen of the country who chose to apply his intelligence negatively, adding that he was "a sophisticated criminal."

Justice Nwosu said that it was an act of God that the principal suspect, (late Innocent Ekeanyanwu) was caught in order to expose the otherwise secret killings masterminded by the condemned criminals.

She said that obviously the blood of the young boy who was murdered had cried against his killers and ensured their death sentence. She dismissed the defence statement that Unogu and Duru were neither present at the hotel as at when the boy was being killed or his body buried. She also said the claims by Nnogu that he never knew Duru (Otokoto) was false because both were already well-known traditional chiefs in Ikeduru from where they hail.

The judge said that she believed the statements of PW10 (Margaret Acholonu) who said among other things that Duru and Unogu were well-known to each other.

"I have no reason to disbelieve PW10. He described PW6 as the mastermind of the murder of Ikechukwu Okonkwo. If he (Vincent Duru) did not know him (Leonard Unogu) he would not have sent Innocent Ekeanyanwu to him."

The judge rejected claims by Duru that he had no knowledge that the slain boy was buried in his hotel, adding that such could not have been possible since there were armed security guards on duty 24 hours among other staff of the hotel.

"It is only reasonable that Innocent Ekeanyanwu could not have carried a human head to Ikeduru if the said Chief Unogu has not counselled him to bring him a head. Why didn't he stop at any other compound than the compound of Leonard Unogu?"

The remaining five accused were sentenced to death for concealing information with or without compulsion.

"They therefore do nothing but supervise the slaughter of human beings and use the Otokoto Hotel as burying ground for unwanted human parts," Justice Chioma said.

Meanwhile, counsel to second and fifth condemned persons, Barrister J.C. Uwazuronye told journalists that justice was denied his clients. He vowed to take the matter to the appeal court.

The Imo State capital, Owerri, had been enmeshed in the Otokoto Saga after an 11-year old boy (Okonkwo) was beheaded for ritual purposes in September 1996.

Police investigation had implicated Ekeanyanwu, an employee of Otokoto Hotel, owned by Duru.

A curious announcement of the death of Ekeanyanwu, the star suspect in the murder of the 11-year old boy, by the Imo State police command in police cell on December 23, 1996, had sparked riots in Owerri between September 24 and 25, 1996. The chain reaction tagged: "Otokoto Saga" had left many houses, churches and noteable public buildings burnt by protesting mobs.

A controversial post-mortem examination conducted on the corpse of Ekeanyawu could not be concluded before the police hurriedly ordered his burial. The detectives from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, sub-sqeutnly took over investigation into the matter.

The FCID and a judicial commission of inquiry set up by the Imo State government later established a case of complicity in the death of Ekeanyanmu in custody.

The government white paper recommended officers and policemen of the state police command involved in the investigation, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr. Ifeanyi Anwuzie, and an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr. Chukwu Obasi, dismissed from the Force and charged with murder alongside other policemen in charge of the cell where Ekeanyanwu was kept.

About nine policemen were subsequently arraigned at a Senior Magistrate Court in Owerri, accused of murdering Ekeanyanwu.

Before then six other persons tagged: the Otokoto 6", including the son of Duru (Otokoto), Vicent Obidiozor Duru, had been arrested for robbing one Dr. Omaka Okoh of N5,500 at gun-point on May 24, 1995 and kidnapping his daughter.

All six men, Obidiozor Duru, Amanze Onuoha, MaDonald Chukwudi Ebere, Collins Ndulaka, Sydney Onyecheged and Chidiebere Onuoha, were subsequently condemned to death by the Imo State Armed Robbery and Firearms Tribunal on May 30, 1997 and publicly executed on July 31, 1997.

Those condemned yesterday were eventually charged to court for the murder of Ikechukwu on Thursday, December 9, 1997.

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The Pro-third term Senators and Federal House of Representatives members including Senators Arthur Nzeribe, Ifeanyi Ararume and Eze Ajoku were booed as they walked away from the crowd who humiliated them.
The former Minister of Information, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Jnr. who read Chief Emeka Ojukwu’s prepared speech had ignited the pro-third term attack when he said that those who wanted Obasanjo to continue in 2007 are enemies of Ndigbo.
Soon after his speech, Nzeribe led his pro-third term group to walk out but they were booed by the crowd who shouted “N50m, saboteurs”.

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The former Minister of Information, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Jnr. who read Chief Emeka Ojukwu’s prepared speech had ignited the pro-third term attack when he said that those who wanted Obasanjo to continue in 2007 are enemies of Ndigbo.

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Originally posted by Ednut:

biafra nwa nna, the point I am making is that if Nnia Nwodo was not their, people like Nzeribe probably would have intimidated the crowd again. But since the crowd saw people like Ararume, Eze Ajoku and Nzeribe described as they are by this Enugu son, they then had enough courage to come on board.

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Crime and punishment


By Okey Ndibe


Last Sunday, several Nigerian newspapers reported the booing humiliation meted out to Joe Irukwu, the sit-tight “president” of Ohaneze Ndigbo, as well as other Igbo architects of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s doomed third term project. Irukwu, a former insurance guru turned presidential stooge, had gone to Owerri, the Imo capital, to attend what was styled as the Igbo Political Summit at Concorde Hotel. But a shocker awaited Irukwu as soon as he was called up to speak. The delegates at the meeting heckled and booed, shooing him off the platform. Despite the plaintive pleas of the host governor, Achike Udenwa, the audience remained defiant. They did not want to hear from Irukwu’s ilk.


Sensing the absolute contempt in which the delegates held those of them who brayed in support of the iniquitous agenda of third term, such notorious targets as Senators Arthur Nzeribe and Araraume made their inelegant, hasty retreat from the venue.


I exulted at the public humiliation of these renegades and fifth columnists. The audience’s action represents, I hope, the inauguration of a new ethos in contemporary Igbo political and moral affairs. It served notice, I believe, that the Igbo collectivity is about to use their ancient, effective instrument of sanctions. Crimes against the communal will ought to invite appropriate punishment. In the Igbo domain, few sanctions are as salient as withholding a man’s privilege to speak at the public square. Make no mistake, then: Irukwu’s punishment was a devastating snub.


About time, I say. Last year, the Igbo Union of Atlanta invited me as one of the speakers at their annual convention. Rather than dwell on the external antagonists of the Igbo, I chose to speak on the enemies within. I reminded the audience that the mess in Anambra, culminating in a three-day spree of arson, while supported by Aso Rock, was actually financed and executed by a few reprobate Igbo elements. I reminded my audience that, first in 1999 and again in 2003, Igbo politicians in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party were the first to vote against Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a candidate who towered intellectually as well as morally over the party’s eventual presidential nominee. Were these Igbo supporters of Obasanjo actuated by any vision of the man’s superior mettle? Banish the thought: most of them were simply swayed and bought by the candidate’s rain of cash. I told my audience that, as long as the Igbo condoned impunity rather than execrated it, our lives were bound to remain, well, hellish.


A few months ago, Joe Irukwu stood up before a joint committee of the National Assembly on constitutional amendments and stated that he supported the odious third term project. If Irukwu had spoken in his personal capacity, he would be entitled to his grave error. But the man had the cheek to announce that he’d been empowered by “50 million” Igbos to back the amendment. When a friend asked what I thought about Irukwu’s posture, I shook my head and retorted that Irukwu must see fifty million images of himself when he peered at the mirror! Well, the voices he essayed to appropriate and betray have risen up in Owerri to menace him, banishing him from the communal banquet.


Irukwu is far from the only Igbo occupant of the hall of shame. The two Nzeribes in the National Assembly, one an old fox incapable of lending himself to any impressive cause, the other a younger facsimile who basks in turpitude, brought their acts to new levels of infamy during the fight over third term. Festus Odimegwu, the Managing Director of Nigeria Brewery Limited and by all accounts a brilliant corporate manager, turned himself into a proselytizer of third term. In this, he tragically misjudged the interests of his biggest corporate sponsors, those who made him such a phenomenal success in the first place by consuming his products. His board has sent him on an extended study leave, hopefully with the expectation that he would learn to separate his personal interests from those of his employers and sponsors. I hope that the board intends to send him off after his stint of studies. If the board fails, Nigerians ought to boycott the company’s brew to force the issue.


Kelechi Nwagwu, speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, was so desperate to register in the contemptible company of third “termites” that he called a press conference and vowed his willingness, as one newspaper reported, “to die for the actualisation of the third term bid of President Olusegun Obasanjo.” Aware of the gains of absurd sycophancy in Obasanjo’s Nigeria, the speaker ramped up the rhetoric and took political servility to another notch. According to the “Independent” newspaper, the speaker “insisted that anyone who means well for the country must support and join the ranks of those urging Obasanjo to continue beyond 2007.” Then it quoted the speaker: “If I have my way, I would advocate life presidency for him because in his economic programmes for the country he saves lives. Therefore, by the special grace of God, if given the opportunity to be there, nobody would be talking of travelling to Europe, everybody would be here because things would be working very well.” Nwagwu “added that the pro-third term campaigners have resolved to die to ensure that Obasanjo continues in office beyond 2007.”


The Nwagwus in our midst are able to stand on t