Anambra Community Wants Arthur Eze Charged For Terrorism

Leaders of Abagana, headquarters of Njikoka Local Government Area of

Anambra State have asked the Inspector General of Police Mr. Ibrahim Idris

to prosecute Chairman of Atlas Oranto Petroleum, Prince Arthur Eze for

unleashing violence on the town.
The leaders, under the aegis of Abagana Welfare Union, urged the top

police boss to sanction the Anambra State Commissioner of Police Mr.

Samuel Okaula, Area Commander Longe, as well as the Divisional officers

for Njikoka and Dunukofia local government areas, police officers the town

union said have been heavily compromised by Prince Arthur Eze.

Dated August 29, 2016, the petition faulted Police Commissioner Okaula's

recent claim that 23 persons he paraded in Awka were terrorists.  On the

contrary, said the petitioners, Arthur Eze had been using the police to

terrorize law-abiding residents of Abagana. The petition was signed on

behalf of the Union by Barrister Emma Ifeadike.
“We are constrained to draw your attention to mounting threats to the

peace, law and order of Abagana community by the Commissioner of Police,

Anambra State, Mr. Samuel Okaula, the Area Commander (Awka) ACP Longe, as

well as the Divisional Police Officers in charge of Dunukofia and Njikoka

LGAs by their bid to forcefully take over the ancestral land of Abagana

community, at the instigation of Prince Arthur Eze,” began the petition.

“The aforementioned police officers, who ought to be officers of the law

have, quite regrettably become pawns on the chessboard of this moneybag

whose cliché is “every man has a price” and that “when money talks,

bullshit works.
“The genesis of this is a lingering land dispute between Abagana and Ukpo

towns. Even though the expanse of land historically belongs to Abagana,

the people of Ukpo led by Prince Aurthur Eze and his brother, the

traditional ruler of the town, Igwe Robert Eze, have been laying claim to

the land- the same way they have been falsely laying claims to lands

belonging to Enugwu-Agidi and Abba towns.
“A High Court of Anambra State had earlier given judgment in favour of

Ukpo. Dissatisfied with the judgment, Abagana filed an appeal before the

Court of Appeal, Enugu. The Appeal is listed as CA/E/86/2002 and motion

CA/110M/2015.
“Despite the pendency of the appeal, Prince Arthur Eze, with cover from

the heavily compromised COMPOL Samuel Okaula and over 200 armed policemen

and vigilante from Ukpo, moved bulldozers and allied earthmoving equipment

into the disputed land. As Abagana people watched helplessly, the machines

bulldozed their homes, graves, farmlands and economic trees. To secure the

captured territory, Prince Arthur Eze built a police post thereon, and

with illegal police protection hurriedly began building up the place,

apparently to frustrate the upcoming appeal.
“On August 19, 2016, there were reports of an attack on properties erected

by Prince Arthur Eze on the disputed lands. From every indication, the

destruction of properties was orchestrated by Prince Arthur Eze himself,

to rope in the leaders of Abagana community. Few hours later in the

morning of August 20, 2016, COMPOL Okaula, working according to plans with

Prince Arthur Eze, personally led an operation to Abagana and arrested

scores of people believed to be close to Chief Emmanuel Nwude, Owelle

Abagana whom he suspected was financing the attack and court case against

Ukpo.
“Curiously, barely 24 hours after the reported attack, COMPOL Samuel

Okaula addressed a world press conference where he paraded 10 workers of

EM Guest Inn, Abagana, owned by High Chief Emmanuel Nwude. Without any

shred of evidence, and in clear departure from what had originally been

dubbed “Case of Conspiracy and Murder”, COMPOL Samuel Okaula tagged the

arrestees “terrorists”, just to appeal to his financier Prince Arthur Eze.

Quite laughably, COMPOL Okaula has manufactured “dangerous weapons”

including arms and ammunition, which he claimed the “terrorists” used to

attack the police post.
Continued the petition, “It might interest you to note that COMPOL Okaula

has since ordered the release of ALL suspects from Prince Arthur Eze's

town Ukpo arrested in the Abagana raid, confirming his partisanship. My

clients strongly believe that COMPOL Samuel Okaula has declared war on

Abagana. Prominent sons of Abagana lucky to have escaped arrest have gone

into hiding, as Prince Arthur Eze boasts that he has the resources to get

the police arrest One million people, if need be,” stated the petitioners.

They appealed to the police boss to “order COMPOL Samuel Okaula to

immediately release all persons arrested in the wake of the latest round

of clashes between Abagana and Ukpo youth, as the youth of Abagana are

becoming restive with each passing day,” stressing, “alternatively they

should be charged to court.”
Aside urging the Inspector General of Police to “direct the take-over of

investigation into the most recent bout of violence on the Abagana-Ukpo

border as the Commissioner of Police Anambra and the aforementioned

officers have largely compromised their positions and can no longer be

trusted to conduct an impartial investigation,” the petition asked him to

“investigate Prince Arthur Eze for terrorizing the peace-loving people of

Abagana.”
The post Anambra Community Wants Arthur Eze Charged For Terrorism appeared first on Pointblank News .