Intersociety Demands Re-Arrest of Alleged Imo Terror Leader Chibuike Duru Following Controversial Release

Enugu, Eastern Nigeria, Monday, May 25, 2026: Arrested And Freed Twice After Hours: Chibuike Duru, nicknamed “Nwamgbenta”, was taken into custody by the Imo State Police Command on Thursday, May 14, 2026 and freed hours later without a detailed investigation, during which the State Police image maker told a seasoned media reporter that “Suspect Duru is one of our guys working for us he also works for politicians”; and was advised to withdraw the matter, make peace with him and be compensated”. Not satisfied, the petitioners including the Law Firm of J.U. IJEOMA & ASSOCIATES led by its Principal, Barr Justus Uche Ijeoma and human rights groups returned to the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command (CP Audu Garba Bosso), leading to the case file being withdrawn from the first investigating team (Violent Crimes Response Unit) and transferred to the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of State CID’s Homicide Section (AC Dan Iroakazi), from which the matter was assigned to SUPOL Cosmos Anyanwu as the team leader. The leader of the first investigation team (“Violent Crimes Response Unit-VCRU”) is SUPOL Martins Emerem. Consequently, on Thursday, May 21, 2026, “Suspect Chibuike Duru (alias Nwamgbenta)” was re-arrested and taken into custody and in the evening of Saturday, May 23, 2026, he was controversially freed on alleged orders of the CP. By early Sunday morning of May 24, 2026, gun shots started booming in jubilation in his hometown of Egwedu Autonomous Community in Atta, Njaba Local Government Area. He was reportedly joined by other members of his unlawfully armed gang, numbering about eight and some politicians backing him; causing panics and fears among the defenseless villagers-amid raining of death threats against witnesses, survivors and Citizen-Petitioners.

Imo State Police Command Flouting IGP’s Directive Since Feb 2026: The firm directive of the Inspector General of Police in the referenced high-profile case has been flouted by the Imo State Police Command under CP Audu Garba Bosso for four months or 120 days. The Imo State CP was firmly directed to investigate the case since February 5, 2026, only for “invincible hands” within the Force to cause the transmitted copy to disappear, forcing the petitioners to secure fresh approval, dated March 18, 2026. Since then till date, no detailed investigation had taken place. The Law Firm of J.U. IJEOMA & ASSOCIATES had on Jan 29, 2026 filed a strong worded petition to the Inspector General of Police, alleging multiple violent crimes and allied others perpetrated by Suspect Chibuike Duru and members of his alleged Torture Chamber and Terror Gang. The petition followed several complaints by some concerned citizens to the leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) which referred them to the Law Firm of J.U. IJEOMA & ASSOCIATES because of its outstanding credibility. We also agreed to monitor and hold “an advocacy watching brief in the matter” till the end.

Alleged Multiple Violent Criminal Activities Of Chibuike Duru And His Gang: Accusers of Chibuike Duru and his alleged Torture Chamber and Terror-Gang had strongly alleged multiple violent crimes of murder, attempted murder, torture, kidnapping, disappearances and offences of extortion and property destruction and running of illegal detention camps since 2023. He was also accused of running a private militia and operating with prohibited firearms including AK-47s. The alleged culprit Duru was accused of perpetrating the above listed heinous crimes by running an unlawful private security outfit, with which he was said to have maintained an alleged pattern of killings, illegal detention and torture, using “a private community security in Egwedu Autonomous Community of Atta-Njaba and the Njaba Local Government Area” as a cover. According to an investigation carried out by the Nigerian Observatory for Human Rights, published on May 20, 2026, “Duru was a former commander within a (counterfeit) pro-Biafra armed group who reportedly struck a deal with Imo State Government-backed militia Ebubeagu upon returning to the community and effectively established a parallel justice system acting as judge, jury, and executioner in the absence of formal police presence”.

According to the Nigerian Observatory for Human Rights, too, “Duru was said to openly operate, wielding AK-47 rifles and presiding over civil matters, acting as both judge and jury and it was also heard that his verdicts are enforced via the use of force”. According to petitioners and survivors interviewed, “a human cage was built at Duru’s residence, where he detains suspects, tortures and starves them at will and demands unlawful bail fees ranging from ₦300,000 to ₦1 million and above; during which families are also charged ₦5,000 each time they bring food to their unlawfully detained family members or relatives”. According to further findings made by the Nigerian Observatory for Human Rights, collaborated by Intersociety findings, “at least two young men have been killed in recent months including on November 30, 2025 when Chiedozie Awalie, 37, of Ubaokoro, Atta, was allegedly arrested in broad daylight in front of his father’s compound and was subsequently killed and his corpse set ablaze. His father, Mr. Tobias Awalie, has been identified as a witness. On January 27, 2026, Ifeanyi Nnadiemere, 25, died in Duru’s unlawful detention custody after being detained for allegedly transferring money from his mother’s bank account without her consent. NOHR has reviewed photographs and video footage documenting injuries sustained by Nnadiemere and found them to be consistent with severe torture”.

“In a separate case, Chinonso Moses Ejiofor was held in Chibuike Duru’s cage for approximately 10 days, from January 17 to 26, 2026 and was released only after a human rights lawyer intervened. Upon his release, Duru reportedly warned him that his mother would “surely lose her son” if he spoke about his ordeal. Chinonso told us (the Nigerian Observatory for Human Rights), at the time of his detention, that at least eight other individuals were being held in the cage”. Duru also recently relocated his activities to Njaba LGA headquarters, where he continued operating as an official vigilante under what many described as the protection of the local government chairman. Several properties belonging to indigenes of the Community have also suffered malicious damage or destruction in the alleged hands of Duru and his gang including fifteen street solar lights installed by Chief Amaechi Thaddeus Duru, pulled down and destroyed in 2024, for “obstructing the gang’s criminal activities at night”. It is again recalled that the Law Firm of J.U. Ijeoma & Associates had through a petition signed by Chubby Ikechukwu Obianyo, Esq., dated Jan 29, 2026, written to the Inspector General of Police at Force Headquarters and copied to National Human Rights Commission, Director General of State Security Services and Chairman of the Police Service Commission, demanding for immediate arrest, investigation, and prosecution of Duru and his gang and dismantling of the Torture Chamber and Terror Camps. Link: https://securitynewsalert.com/manaccused-of-operating-torture-chamber-murder-walks-free-moments-after-arrest/

Investigation Commercialized And Compromised: Having monitored the poor handling of the case since February 2026 by the Imo State Police Command, we make bold to say that the proceedings so far are totally disappointing and amounting to state actor concealment of heinous crimes and deepening of culture of impunity’. The poor handling adopted by the Imo State Police Command is also found to have encouraged and deepened commercialization of the processes of criminal investigation and discouragement of ‘citizens’ reportage of such heinous crimes’ and allied others. In the instant case, the processes of investigation have been commercialized and compromised. From our rough estimates, at least N1.5m has painfully been spent by one of the petitioners including roughly N1m wasted on the so called “mobilization of investigating police officers”; greater percentage of which was wasted on the first investigative team (‘Spider Unit’, now called “Violent Crimes Response Team”) of the Imo State CID. The remainder of the said N1m was spent on ‘Homicide Section of the State CID’ for “mobilization” and said to have been facilitated via cash payment and police officers-agent POS operators operated outside police formations and official records. The total of estimated N1m extortion was outside the knowledge and approval of the petitioners’ lawyers.

Not less than N500,000 was also needlessly spent by the petitioners on transportation and feeding of the indigent victims and survivors of the heinous crimes to enable them travel to the State CID to volunteer confessional statements-during which many of them visited three times. We at Intersociety therefore wonder what will be the fate of other registered criminal matters if “the IGP Case could be compromised and commercialized like this”. It is also most likely that hundreds of millions of naira forced to be paid by complainants on weekly basis under the watch of the Imo State Police Command are never reflected in the Command’s official records or traceably passed through the official bank accounts of such investigating police officers including their team leaders and the “IPOs”. This despicable Practice, which has become widespread and unchecked across board in the country’s police investigation formations, has also brought about bastardization of criminal investigations including inconclusive investigations, issuance of watery crime reports and pegging investigations and their commercialization at highest bidders.

Imo State CID Investigators Must Sit Up Or Many Feathers Will Be Ruffled: We are strongly calling on those assigned to investigate the high-profile criminal matter in the Imo State CID under Police AC Dan Iroakazi as OC and SUPOL Cosmos Anyanwu as Investigating Team Leader to sit up or have many of their feathers ruffled in weeks to come. The Imo State Police Command under CP Audu Garba Bosso must also desist from undermining the authority of the Inspector General of Police in his referral: “CB: 7000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.968/8” dated Feb 5, 2026 and March 11, 2026. The possibility of withdrawing the matter and taking it back to IGP’s office at Force Headquarters in Abuja for proper and conclusive investigation is also under serious consideration; dependent on the outcome of today’s protest visit to the Imo CP by the petitioners and their legal guardians or lawyers. The names of the helmsman of the Njaba Local Government Area and other troublesome politicians allegedly backing and aiding the Killer-Gang and its alleged leaders into committing the referenced heinous crimes and creating general atmosphere of insecurity, threats and fears in Egwedu-Njaba and the entire Njaba LGA are being traced.

Lastly, we are not unaware of conspiratorial efforts within and outside police formations in Imo State and beyond to compromise the ongoing high-profile investigation and sweep the case under the carpet, with intent to undermine the IGP’s firm directive. Apart from some members of the first investigation team advising one of the petitioners on May 14, 2026 to “withdraw the case and make peace with Suspect Duru and be compensated”; the poor handling of the investigation by the Imo State CID investigators has also reportedly aided the suspect and his alleged gang members into engaging in wanton destruction and concealment of material evidence including alleged late night removal by his alleged gang members at large, of prohibited firearms and allied weapons with which they operate deadly unchecked. The alleged Terror-Gang which recently relocated from Egwedu-Atta to Njaba Local Government Headquarters under the alleged protection of the said LGA helmsman; has returned to the community to continue their heinous crimes following their leader’s controversial release in the late evening of May 23, 2026. The LGA helmsman was also alleged to have appeared twice as bail surety for ‘Suspect Duru’ on May 14 and May 21, 2026. By the combined provisions of Section 34 (5) of the 1999 Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015, as amended, ‘Suspect Duru’ and members of his alleged Torture Chamber and Terror-Gang, numbering about eight including an alleged criminal herbalist, can be detained for 60 days via valid and legitimate court remand order strictly for purpose of detailed investigation over grave accusation of violent crimes especially those grounded in ‘circumstantial evidence’ including testimonial and confessional statements from survivors and eyewitnesses. It is also legally permissible to charge the suspects with offenses with conclusive investigation and continue investigations into others (if any) while the trial is going on.

Signed: For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Emeka Umeagbalasi Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies Board Chair, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

· Obianuju Joy Igboeli Esquire Human Rights Lawyer/Head, Dept. of Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam, Esquire Human Rights Lawyer and Head, Dept. of Campaign and Publicity

International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

Comrade Samuel Kamanyoku Deputy Head, Data Collection & Documentation International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law

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Email: info@intersociety-ng.org Website: https://intersociety-ng.orgley