President Buhari Should Intervene In This Particular Criminal Case
The recent botched attempts by a negligibly few but ill-willed persons to stop the burial of late Mr. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Udemba in Nnokwa, Anambra state have, once again, renewed our heartfelt appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to order an independent and transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of late Mr. Udemba. Even the children of late Mr. Udemba have recently, in an open letter, called upon their town’s chief and Cabinet to join forces with them and appeal to the Nigerian President for a transparent investigation, given their current and longstanding concern.
What must have driven such crafty and deliberate attempts to scuttle the planned burial of a good Nigerian still boggles everyone’s imagination. This ploy began with a trumped-up and last-resort claim that the corpse, “discovered” by some Anambra state police agents in a local mortuary was not the true corpse of late Mr. Udemba even after the same corpse was positively identified by the suffering widow and children of the deceased since July, 2015.
The desperate claim was purportedly aimed at scuttling the planned burial of Mr. Udemba by a three-man group and notorious mischief makers, who have been reportedly running around secretly, spreading false propaganda locally to tarnish the image of some well-known people of good repute in the town.
It is also seen by many as a disingenuous attempt to craftily transfer their infamy, as potential suspects, to other innocent citizens of Nigeria, if possible to achieve a passed-over incrimination. However, that tactic did not work out for them. Good-willed people are now coming to believe that this three-man group; perhaps, might have known something about the kidnap and murder of Mr. Udemba. We are still pleading with President Buhari to order a transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of late Mr. Udemba.
From the onset, Mr. Udemba’s kidnap was purposely made to appear complicated and mysterious to many but for divine providence. Now, trusted and independent investigators in Nigeria could quickly demystify this criminal case and any similar cases that are still open across the country. The reluctance or deliberate failure of the Nigerian Police Force to honestly get involved in this particular kidnap and murder investigation has become a big red flag regarding what must have gone wrong along the line.
We make bold to remark that the same longstanding game-playing and frustrating tactics are still being deployed by those who should have been leading investigations in the Nigerian Police Department. Therefore, this matter needs only the intervention of the Presidency as no one seems ready to do anything meaningful and with honesty unless ordered. How can the fight against corruption in Nigeria be effective unless the law enforcement agents are fully and conscientiously involved in this fight? Who can now help the helpless in our country if not this new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari? Who should defend the defenseless?
Why should any serious and professional law enforcement agents in any nation demur at investigating a criminal case of this nature, involving the kidnap and murder of a Nigerian? Why the continued reluctance and foot-dragging? Hopefully, the lives and property of every citizen matter today in our present Nigeria. We need Nigerians to do something helpful about this particular kidnap and murder case.
There is no need overlaboring the fact that letters of appeal have been abundantly addressed to the highest law enforcement agencies in the country as well as to the Presidency, pleading for intervention in such a serious criminal matter. But, so far, nothing has been done. Well-meaning Nigerians have been wondering and still wondering how many more tears would be further shed by the widow and children of late Mr. Udemba so as to get the attention of the appropriate authorities in the country. What else would such good citizens of Nigeria do to get the attention of the Presidency to intervene in their searing and undeserving plight?
A concerned citizen recently observed that no serious criminal case of this nature gets investigated in Nigeria with transparency unless the order comes from the Presidency. Is that the best path that we would prefer to follow if we are to survive as a country, security wise? Why was the investigation of Mr. Udemba’s kidnap and murder blocked since 2012? How could any right-thinking person believe that Mr. Udemba’s corpse was “found” by the police since 2012 and failure to notify the family or get the message out to the appropriate news channels blamed on “forgetfulness”? Does not somebody need to answer for this bizarre criminal negligence and implicit cover-ups?
A Failed Attempt to Get a Town Chief’s Cabinet Involved in a Criminal Case
It has been revealed that the same three-man gang, who have been working behind closed-doors; probably before and after the kidnap of late Mr. Udemba since March 2012 severally attempted to hijack and hand over a criminal case to a town chief’s council via its Progress Union. To further rubbish a serious criminal case and thereby introduce confusion into a town of predominantly good people and a widely-appreciatedgood Igwe? That is ridiculous! Of course, any attempt to approach any local chief’s council in Nigeria to handle a case of kidnap and murder rather than law enforcement agents is not only sinisterly motivated but also never holds water; no matter how camouflaged. Such attempts would always lack any helpful substance needed to justify the involvement of either a town chief’s Cabinet or a town’s Progress Union in the affairs and inalienable rights of any family. Friends, it is inexcusable and tantamount to people taking laws into their own hands.
The Igwe in Council of any town ought to have been in the vanguard of pushing for a far-reaching and transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of any of their town’s native and son. This should have been applied to the case of Mr. Udemba’s kidnap and confirmed murder. They should have been leading the way because this is the first time an indigene was kidnapped and murdered even after a huge ransom was paid to secure his release. This remains outrageous and unacceptable. We have always believed that every well-meaning member of the Igwe’s Cabinet and indeed every good citizen of a town should have been in the forefront of appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to order a transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of Mr. Udemba.
An Igbo adage has it that: “Ebulu ozu onye ozo o di ka ebu ukwu nku.” This is translated as “When the corpse of another person is being carried it appears to the unconcerned person as a mere log of wood.”Moreover, as avant-gardes of a good and progressive town, like Nnokwa, they should have been driven by sympathy and feelings for the agonizing and surviving family of the deceased and consequently pressure the Federal Government to order a reliable and honest investigation.
Unfortunately, a few people of unscrupulous demeanor create horrible situations for their neighbors in our world today; thereby, destroying homes and leaving impacted families in perpetual agony. It is ourcandid opinion that people of such climes should pay for what they deliberately did. To commit a crime is one thing but the consequences of those crimes remain enormous and insufferable for their innocent victims and, therefore, cry out for in-depth criminal investigations.
Again, it is not yet clear what a town chief’s Cabinet or its Progress Union has got to do with investigating the kidnap and murder of a town’s man; a responsibility that solely belongs to the appropriate law enforcement agents in the country. Were they attempting or offering to conduct autopsies and forensics by themselves?
This continues to sound really funny and preposterous! Most expediently, what were they doing since the disappearance of Mr. Udemba? With these few salient questions, we would appeal toevery good citizen of Nigeria, theIgwe’s cabinet and and Nnokwa indegenes; in particular; to join forces with the suffering widow of late Mr. Udemba and his children and pressure President Muhammadu Buhari to order an honest and transparent investigation. It is high time and overdue this is done.
The Igwe in Council should have focused on something that would have yielded significant and meaningful results; namely conducting a private investigation among themselves to sift out “bad eggs” from among their membership and initiating consequent demotion and divestiture process of indicted members. Above all, appealing to the Federal Government of Nigeria to order a far-reaching and honest investigation into the kidnap and murder of their own son, Mr. Udemba. But rather they chose to get involved in what is an exclusively family affair. What a dramatic shift in priority to indulge in what does not directly concern them especially when unsolicited by the widow and children of late Mr. Udemba.
The Responsibility of the Police and Allied Law Enforcement Agents:
For clarity sake, criminal investigations remain, solely, the responsibility of the Police and their affiliates. A criminal investigation is not the responsibility of the Igwe in Council of any town or its Progress Union. Indeed, it is the responsibility of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, who, for some reasons and for now, has not ordered any effective and transparent investigation into this particular kidnap and murder case. Those reasons are best known to Mr. Arase alone. But what reasons on earth could make an Inspector General of Police recoil from ordering a transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of Mr. Udemba?
Whatever those reasons are, remain suspicious and need to be known by all. Nevertheless, we are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene, at this point, to save a family that has been suffering since the kidnap and murder of their husband and father. In addition to asking the Nnokwa Igwe in Council and the Progress Union to jointly appeal to President Buhari so that he could order an urgent, far-reaching and transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of Mr. Udemba. We need some honesty and sincerity in leadership.
With this new column, we are,once again, renewing our heartfelt appeals to President Buhari to order an independent and transparent investigation into the kidnap and murder of late Mr. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Udemba.
Justin C. O. Okongwu (Editor)
Submitted by Supporters and Sympathizers of the E.C. Udemba Family
Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria