The councilor representing Umuhuali ward 2 in Ishielu Local government area of Ebonyi state, Hon. Innocent Nwoba has called on Bishop of Abakaliki diocese, Dr Michael Okoro to urgently call the catholic priest of the community, Rev. Fr Cornelius Chukwu to order.
Nwoba has accused the cleric of complicity in the problems rocking the community, where the perpetrators of the murder of one Christopher Eze have not being brought to book.
His words “I am Hon. Innocent Nwoba, councilor of Umughali ward 2 in Ishielu Local government area of Ebonyi state. The problem in umughali community began after 20011 general elections. Some group with Felix Ereke, Fr Cornelius Chukwu wrote a petition, most of them have died now.
They wrote the petition and brought it for me to append my signature against some youths, who are fomenting troubles in the community. I told them to convoke a meeting so that the suspects will be summoned.
I equally told them that I will not sign the petition. To my surprise, the initiators of the petition called me to appear at the Ebonyi state Police command headquarters in Abakaliki. That was on 25th of July, 2011. What I saw in the petition was the bank robbery at the first Bank in Nsukka, Enugu state was conceived at Umughali by the youths from the community.
I was surprised on how the bank robbery which executed in Enugu state was linked to the community. It was even at Onunwankwo Ezza Umughali, that police intercepted the robbers with their armored personnel carrier, APC in a gun duel with the robbers. After that, some youths from the community were arrested and taken to Anti terrorism Squad in Enugu.
The affected youths were executives of Ezza Umughali Youth Association, which included; the chairman, Emeka Orugbala; his vice, John Nwali; patron, one Felix. Because of the arrest, we sued the sponsors of the petition, Rev fr. Chukwu, Inspector General of Police and Enugu Commissioner for Police at the Federal High Court, Enugu.
We the sued the cleric because of his complicity in the matter. We prayed the court to investigate the matter because the youths that were arrested were innocent. They were investigated as prayed and released because they were found innocent. As this was happening, the President of Youths, Mr Peter Nweke Oga through the help of Ereke and Rev Chukwu and rev Peter Ogbonna dissolved the community vigilante group.
They reconstituted new vigilante with Abel Ega as the leader. Already, majority of the youths in the community have disappeared to evade arrest during the mass arrest of the youths in the community over the bank robbery incidence in Nsukka, which was erroneously linked to Umughali community.
Because of the hidden motive of the new vigilante, they arrested on Mr Christopher Eze. His sin was that he was accused to have carted away some items at Nigercem. They killed him and threw his corpse inside a nearby ditch and burnt his car. Eze is from Ezza Mphubu.
My position as a councilor of that ward has been that nobody should be killed for any crime, if such crime cannot be settled in the community; the perpetrators should be arrested and sent to police.
Because of that suggestion, they sued me to court that I am carting away items from Nigercem to cover the murder of the Eze. But I have no hands in the property at Nigercem. I was in prison for two weeks till I met my bail conditions before I regained freedom.
The family of the deceased Eze has written a petition to the IG that zone 6 calabar, handling the murder case has been doing that with apathy. It was then, that the IG ordered the police command headquarters in Abakaliki to go ahead and investigate the matter, so that the suspects will be prosecuted accordingly.
Because of my determination for justice to be obtained on the murder of Eze, the next thing was a publication in one of the local tabloids in the state that I am planning to cause another war in Ezillo and Nkalaha community. All these allegations were to cover the murder crime.
Please the catholic Bishop of Abakaliki and the Commisioner of Police, Ebonyi state command to wade into the matter and investigate those behind the death of Chris Eze and the allegations leveled against me that I am carting away property at Nigercem by the new Vigilant groups and their cohorts.
