Anambra village chief allegedly connive with police, raid, rain bullets on man’s house, injure wife, son over land dispute
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
The family of Chief Anthony Ojemba Chigbo has raised alarm over the recent “arrest” of their husband and father who was arrested by people who claimed that they were police officers at Odida Umuikwelle village in Eziowelle, Anambra State.
According a family member, one Chief Anthony Dibor allegedly master-minded a trumped-up armed robbery charge against Chief Chigbo when the later resisted his attempt to sell of a village paternal land.
The wife of Chief Chigbo, Mrs. Ngozi, when contacted by News Band correspondent on Thursday, narrated the ordeal as follows:
“On Tuesday morning, August 23, at about 5:30 AM, I heard my dogs barking. I woke up, looked through the window and saw some armed men by the wall skipping into the compound.
“I woke my husband and told him we have guests in the compound looking like armed robbers. My husband woke too and looked outside through the window and saw the armed men on black and black attire.
“Before long they started banging at the door telling us to open the door and that everybody in the house should come out. We thought they were armed robbers and went hiding.
“They then started firing bullets inside the house and when we didn’t open, they decided to break down the door.
“They tried the front door but it was hard. They went to the kitchen door and started hitting it using the blocks we packed nearby. They broke down the kitchen door and came in.
“Meanwhile, my son was recording them using his phone through the window. They say my son, shot him in the leg and took the phone from him and started beating him.
“They used the phone they got from the compound and hit my son severally.
“I then asked them, “What do you people want? Who are you? Do you want to kill him? What’s really going on? The didn’t answer me and continued beating the boy.
“So I then grabbed the boy and they started beating me too.
“That was when my husband saw what was going on and came out and asked them who they are and what they want.
“They said they were looking for Ojemba and my husband said its he; he asked them to take him and spare his family.
“They kicked him down with legs and he fell.
“My husband asked them if they are police officers because on their attire was inscribed “Special Force”. He asked them if they were police officers as that is not the mode of operation of police
“They slapped him and asked him if he was going to teach them their job. He kept quiet and they led him outside.
“We wanted to follow them but they chased us back and dragged him on his trousers outside the gate.
“In all, there were about 15 of them or even more than. I couldn’t count them all as it was still dark.
“When they were leaving, my son ran outside and noticed they came with 3 Hilux vehicles. That was all that transpired.”
News Band investigation, however, revealed that the brutal arrest was just a scratch of the surface as the issue dated back to early in the year.
It was gathered that Chief Anthony Dibor had wanted to sell some portion of land belonging collectively to the village but was resisted by Chief Chigbo and Dibor threatened to ‘deal with him’.
Then suddenly, one fateful day, Chigbo received a court summon charging him for armed robbery [see the attached below]:
Shocked and in disbelief, he ran to Abuja instead of the court and submitted himself to police authorities and the Ministry of Justice.
Consequently, in a letter dated May 19, 2022, and entitled “MIN/167C/2022 — C.O.P. VS. ANTHONY OJEMBA CHIGBO — CALL FOR TRANSMISSION OF ORIGINAL CASE FILE“, the Anambra State Ministry of Justice directed the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 13, Zonal Police HQ in Ukpo, Dunukofia in the state, to “transmit the original case file pending at the Chief Magistrate Court, Ogidi, to her office” [see the attached below]:
The action of the Ministry was consequent to a petition written by lawyers to to Chief Chigbo, Chambers of H.N.C. Moghalu Esq., dated May 13 and received on May 16, 2022, addressed to the Inspector General of Police.
In the petition, the counsel narrated the details of the matter to the Inspector General of Police and sought his intervention.
The petition was titled “Humble Petition Re: An Urgent Passionate Appeal For IGP Intervention To Review A Trumped Up Armed Robbery Charge Against Chief Anthony Ojemba Chigbo Master-Minded By One Chief Anthony Dibor Who Procured Men Of Zone 13, Ukpo To Proffer The Said Charge Because Of The Land Dispute His Company Has With Our Client’s Community“.
Related Posts
The complaints reads in part:
“That… our client’s community/or village took out against among other persons Adibor and Company Ltd for wrongfully trespassing into their ancestral land situated at Odida Umuikwelle village in Eziowelle.
“That in the course of the proceedings of the suit, the High Court… presided over by… Justice P.C. Obiorah made an order of interlocutors’ injunction restraining the defendants including Adibor And Company Ltd from further entering or carrying on any manner of work on the land in dispute pending the determination of the substantive suit.
“That the defendants flaunted the order of the court.
“That notwithstanding all these judicial steps taken by our client’s community to stop the defendants from further flaunting the order of the court, the company… through her Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Chef Anthony Dibor, on the 12/4/2022, went back into the land and started committing diverse acts of trespass.
“That when our client saw them, he tried to capture what they were doing with his mobile phone as further evidence to show the court… Chief Anthony Libor who had procured the men of Zone 13 in the case, with his boys, rushed at our client and shined not only to forcefully take the mobile phone away from him, but to physically assault him by beating him up.
“”That when the above happened, our client raised alarm and people who heard his voice rushed to the scene and rescued him from Chief Anthony Adibor and his boys and our client went home.
“That as our client was in his house, within a period of less than one hour, the said Managing Director and Chief Executive officer, Chief Anthony Dibor, came to our client’s house with team of police men from Zone 13, Ukpo, Anambra State and arrested him, alleging that our client assaulted him, that is Chief Anthony Dibor, and his boys.
“The police men… who appeared to be compromised, never bothered to investigate the case as our client has presented his case and at the promptings and instigation of the said Chief Dibor, decided to trump up a false and unfounded allegation of armed robbery against our client and are now charging him to court over the said trumped up charge.”
“That the charge of armed robbery is a very weighty one that will seriously infringe on the fundamental rights of personal liberty and freedom of movement of our client.”
In respect of the above, the counsel appeal to the IGP to call for the case file from the police legal department of Zone 13 to FCIID, Abuja, for more thorough and discreet investigation.
See a copy of the petition below:
Not done with his evil machinations and despite court order, as well as the directive of the Justice Ministry, Adibor hired unknown persons, thought to be hired assassins or kidnappers by some, to whisk away Chief Chigbo.
According to Mrs. Chigbo, the did not introduce themselves, neither did they present any warrant of arrest. She said:
“My son asked them: “Who are you people? They did not answer. He now asked them, “where is your search warrant or where is your arrest warrant? The started beating him.”
When asked if they were able to identify the vehicle, she said: “No, there was nothing written on the vehicle. But the clothes they wore were inscribed with “Special Force”.”
Presently, she has been able to locate her husband as, according to her, no station could confirm Chief Chigbo’s whereabouts.
She said: “They have not reached out to us. I’ve gone to almost the whole police station in Anambra to look for him but they said there is no entry of such person.
“I have gone to Area Command to give them my statement and they said they will come yesterday to see what happened. They also gave us police report to go to hospital because of the gunshots..
She added that the Area Command doubted the identity of the “officers” as police do not carry Pump Action rifles in their duties and that they don’t cover their faces when going for arrest.
Meanwhile, recovered shells of the guns fired were those of Pump Action rifles and their faces were covered while some wore helmets and bullet proof vests, according to her.
See the attached photos below:
When contacted, the Anambra Police PRO, Tochukwu Ikenga, said he never heard of such incidence and promised to investigate and revert back to News Band.
As at the moment of this publication, however, he was yet to be heard from. Read more.
