PHIL OKOSE, Onitsha
An Onitsha-based legal practitioner, Barr. Charles Obodozie, Tuesday, in his Chambers at GRA, Onitsha, Anambra State, condemned in strong terms, the alleged invasion on his client’s (Kingsley Ijebuonwu), property by armed thugs who he said posed as local vigilante operatives, killed four tenants leaving five with severe gunshot injuries.
Flanked by his client, Kingsley Ijebuonwu, while reacting to the incident which occurred Monday at KLM 1, Asaba/Benin expressway, Asaba, Delta State capital, Barr. Obodozie stated that: “There is a pending court matter on the property (land) over forgery of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) against one Jerry Nkewesi.
“We had earlier complained to the State Police Commissioner and the “B” Divisional Police Officer, DPO, on threat against our client and presented two different court judgments in our favour over the property (land) ownership.
“So yesterday, being Monday, they invaded my client’s property, shot three tenants dead and one other person yet to be identified. About five who sustained various degrees of bullet wounds were rushed to St Rebecca Hospital where the pellets are being extracted from their bodies.
“This is contempt of court because a matter on forgery on the land is still pending in a court of competent jurisdiction when these assailants came calling to eject tenants of my client,” he alleged.
Contributing, his client who is the owner of the property said, “I inherited the property from my late father, Christopher Ijebuonwu, who then had Mr Uwadibia as a tenant.
“Later Uwadibia started to claim ownership and brought thugs to attack us and we reported the matter to Police zone Benin, and in the process he, Uwadibia died. His wife, Gloria and son, brought Jerry Nkewesi, to continue claim of ownership and in turn Nkewesi presented a forged C of O that bears the name, ‘Francis Torlowei,’ and used his own passport to super impose on the C of O
“Apart from winning the land matter in two different court judgments, we sued Jerry for forgery and the matter is still pending in court before they invaded my property last Monday and killed three of my tenants and one other unidentified person.
“Five others who sustained bullet wounds were rushed to St Rebecca hospital Asaba and now am in Onitsha to brief my lawyer on the invasion and killings.
“We earlier went to Commissioner of Police and ‘B’ Divisional Police Officer and told them plot to invade us by these assailants and presented our two court judgments,” he stated.
Among those reportedly killed in the incident he disclosed included, Kabiru Abdulahi, one Mohammed, and a yet to be identified person while those injured were Baba Ado, Muzan and three others.
Reacting to the incident, when contacted, chairman of Hausa community, Abrakka Quarters, Awalu Dalhatu, stated that, “The invaders came in about 15 vehicles, parked nearby and opened fire on us, resulting in the instant death of four of our members.
“The invaders claimed that they were sent by a political bigwig to come and eject them and we told them that our landlord, Mr. Kingsley Ijebuonwu, has a court judgment which we presented to them.
“Earlier, the invaders came last Friday and told us to quit and failure that the day they will come that we will get it hot. True to their vow, today they killed four of our members.
“We met with the DPO, ‘B’ Division, and presented the copy of the judgment to him and he pledged to send police team to protect us,” he started.
Also Dalha Mohammad, who is caretaker chairman of the compound, corroborated the view of the chairman of the Hausa community, stating that bullets were being extracted from those five injured at St Rebecca’s hospital.
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Bright Edafe, stated that he was not aware of the deaths but was aware of injuries arising from the process of executing a court order.
He added however, that the state Police command is investigating the matter and pledged to call back later.
For a better society
Follow us across our platforms:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/championnewsonline/
Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/championnewsonline
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/champion-newspapers-limited/
https://x.com/championnewsng/
You can also like and comment on our YouTube videos.
https://youtu.be/QIBfD1tT80w?si=R4Qf3so2LxYu3GC2
