Thirty-eight-year-old Igwe Emmanuel Mbah of Oruku community, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State was addressing members of his community in a town-hall meeting on December 26, 2020 when policemen allegedly stormed the venue and shot him dead. In this interview with RAPHAEL EDE, the monarch’s elder sister, Amaka Mbah, speaks about the family’s quest for justice
How did your family receive the news of the killing of your brother, Igwe Emmanuel Mbah?
It is the greatest shock of our life. Nobody envisaged that such a thing would happen, not even on a day when he was in the middle of a peace-making meeting. The police came and gruesomely murdered him, just like that. If you are asked to invite someone or arrest someone, the normal procedure is to invite the person and if the person refuses to come, then you can go for arrest. When you come for an arrest, you need to identify yourself, by saying, ‘I am a policeman from this area, you are under arrest’. But surprisingly, this (killing) happened in the presence of more than 70 people. They just jumped into the town-hall meeting and started releasing bullets. Obviously, they had a target in mind. From all the accounts I have listened to, there was no one else who was wounded, showing they had a target in mind to murder. I heard the police are saying it was one Inspector who fired the gun. He was reported to have said that it was a mistake; that he intended to shoot his (Igwe’s) leg. The question is, if there was a mistake, should they not have rushed him to the hospital? Should they not have taken him for treatment so that he would be able to answer for his crime, if he had committed any crime? But they threw him into the trunk of his own car, and then pretentiously took him to the Parklane Hospital, hours after they shot him, and when they got there, instead of taking him to the Accident and Emergency ward, they parked his vehicle and removed the number plate that bears HRM (His Royal Majesty). It was after they had removed everything that they decided to move him to the hospital where they were told that there was no bed. So, there was no serious effort to save his life. The police were seen removing the number plate and after that, they took him straight to the morgue and labelled him a kidnapper that was involved in a gunfight.
I don’t know if anybody gets justice in Nigeria but in this particular case, I don’t think the police and the people who probably sponsored them will go scot-free because there is God in heaven who will pay evil-doers in their own coins. It is the saddest thing ever, a first-degree murder in this country and just after the #EndSARS/EndSWAT protests.
You are insinuating that the policemen who stormed the meeting were sponsored. Who could have sponsored them?
There are three suspects. The three suspects are the villagers who came with them (policemen). I never followed up the controversy on the chieftaincy title but I knew of a case in court that was struck out by Justice Okon Abang at the Federal High Court in Abuja. He (Igwe) had lawyers that were involved and all the court papers are with them (lawyers). So, some villagers just came to the meeting and started pointing at people and then the police started shooting and people started running away.
The Igwe was said to be having some police case. Is that true?
He was arrested sometime in October and was charged along with five other people but the matter was struck out. There was no fresh case. In fact, the information at my disposal is that the papers the policemen came with on December 26, 2020 were forged. So, it (the operation) was not even official. They said they came from the IG’s office. You know police will always cover up everything but I think the Enugu State Governor has set up a commission of inquiry in respect of this. The Special Task Force said there was no invitation, that they never summoned my brother to the Force Headquarters, that there was no case reported against him. They said the particular man who fired the gunshot, an Inspector, said that he was paid N80,000 to go for the mission and that the operation was illegal. And he even showed the (credit) alert on his phone. And you know that when God wants to do something, He is a perfect planner. On this particular day, after they shot him, they also picked up two of my other brothers and put them in the boot. Thank God they didn’t kill them, so those two have been released and they are telling the story.
What was the police case against the Igwe about?
It was pure intimidation. He was appointed a traditional ruler and issued a chieftaincy title certificate by the Enugu State Government. Then the opposition came up with all sorts of allegations and then they went and shoot my elder sister’s husband dead in broad daylight in the community. We were mourning when a letter came from (the police in) Abuja, saying that my brother, who is the Igwe, and others should come to Abuja. They claimed they were the people that killed my in-law. We all knew that this was stage-managed. They went to Abuja and were detained. While they were in the cell, an order came that the traditional ruler should be released but they (policemen) refused to release him and detained him for one month. Then they took him to court at about 5.30pm one day. I’ve never seen a court sitting at 5.30pm. They did that because they have power and on getting to the court my brother said he would not enter the courtroom; he protested that the planned arraignment was illegal. After they brought him back to the Special Task Force (office), they detained him in their cell. He was there until we wrote a petition to the IG. The matter went to court and after going through the case, the court struck it out and said there was no case. So, everybody came back in November believing that everything was over and the Igwe continued his activities of bringing the people together. This particular community has been in crisis for the past 35 years and my brother was just 38 years old. He was born on November 15, 1982.
In what circumstances did your brother become the Igwe?
My brother was living in Dubai and had lived there for 12 years. So, he came back and because he had money he felt he could bring peace into the community. He went to the governor and expressed his desire for peace in our community. After a series of meetings, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi resolved the issues in the community and they appointed him (my brother) as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the community to drive the peace initiative. After he was made the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Governor Ugwuanyi asked the community to get a traditional ruler. When it was announced the entire community rose and said they wanted my brother to be their king and that was how he became the Igwe. Some people said they were not happy; that they didn’t want him to be the Igwe and he said, ‘If you are not satisfied, let us go back to the governor,’ but they refused. Since then, it had been from one tussle to another.
So, the police case was all about a tussle over the Igwe stool?
I think I am the wrong person to narrate this. Even before he took over the traditional stool he had to go and meet elder statesmen to ask them if they were not interested in the stool and, according to him, they said they were not interested.
Was the Igwe married?
Yes; he was married and had three kids. In fact, his wife had a set of twins that were just dedicated on December 12, 2020.
What is the family doing about his killing?
Unfortunately, I don’t have an elder brother; it is just me and my younger brother and then my elder sister and she is bereaved and can’t do anything. Our father is aged and my younger brother is looking after him. The reason I am going to Abuja is to get his car and get the tag they used in depositing his body in the morgue. I just want to bury him so that he will rest in peace. They should have their community, take their Igwe stool and whatever they want to do, let them do.
Is there any link between his killing and the age-long war between your community, Oruku, and Umode community?
The crisis of the Umode community dates back to when I was a young girl in secondary school or even primary school. Whatever is causing this crisis, I don’t know. I grew up hearing that the people of Umode are outcasts who are not allowed in their community. I heard that they used to kill them but at some point the people of Umode said they were also entitled to the chieftaincy title and that was what caused that war. So, my brother and other youths who were overseas resolved to make peace. When my brother returned to Nigeria, he went to meet Governor Ugwuanyi over the matter. This crisis of Umode made us lose the only good access road into the community; this crisis of Umode made us lose a whole lot. So, my brother met the governor and he said he wanted to grant the request of Umode, that 30 per cent of the land should be given to them and Oruku should take 70 per cent, so that Umode can have a community; because they have been chased out to neighbouring communities and they are suffering. Umode also has some prominent sons and daughters. My brother and others agreed that they should give them land; so they gave them land and the governor then created another autonomous community called Aguikpa out of Oruku – it is just like dividing Oruku into three communities and people were happy that peace had finally come and development started coming in.
What is your family doing to get justice?
Well, we will write to the relevant authorities. Like I said, unfortunately, no one gets justice in Nigeria. And that is why part of our demands during our demonstration today (Monday) is that the police should not investigate themselves. Let another arm of the force investigate police brutality because they can’t be a judge in their own case. The man who sent the policemen illegally has not been arrested. Rather, he is hiding somewhere and switched off all his phones and is using new lines.
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