Now I say that with cruelty and oppression, it is everybody’s business to interfere when they see it – Anna Sewell
The deadliest foe of democracy is not autocracy but liberty frenzied – Otto Hermann Khan
If there is anything Nigerian must not allow ever in the constitution; it is that State Government must not be allowed to have state police, at least, not with men like Governor Peter Obi who feels like lord of the ring and emperor of Anambra State. That a governor who came into power through the rule of law could brazenly abused the law, using the agent of security to intimidate former childhood friends and political enemies is a slap on democracy, which we purportedly claim to practice,
For crying out loud, why has Governor Peter Obi not ordered the Nigerian Police to unconditionally release Chief Bonaventure Mokwe whom he ordered his arrest, despite all glaring evidences that this man was innocent of all the accusation plotted against him by his enemies? When has it become a crime to be successful in a society that the governor has to personally prune to size; simply because a man is a competitor of the governor’s friend? What ‘crime’ has Bonaventure committed that should warrant his being detained in SARS for over three months?
For many who are not familiar with the case; here is a brief story of it as narrated by NOPRIN: “The police arrested Chief Bonaventure Mokwe after a stage-managed police search of his UPPER CLASS HOTEL in Onitsha on August 1, 2013 and the ‘recovery’ of incriminating objects, including two old dry human skulls, two AK47 riffles and some ammunition, as well as a military cap.
The police also arrested 10 of his hotel workers, including Mr. Justin Nwankwo a PhD student at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University who works in the hotel to earn income to pay for his academic program. The police then proceeded to the Anambra State Ministry of Justice, Onitsha where Chief Mokwe’s wife- Mrs. Nkiru Mokwe, a lawyer, works as a Chief State Counsel and also arrested her.
Chief Mokwe and his wife were brought back in handcuffs, left in a police vehicle parked opposite his hotel and made to watch as the hotel was pulled down to rubbles on the orders and personal supervision of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State.
Governor Obi ordered the demolition of the hotel without any prior investigation to ascertain the veracity and credibility of the information he and the police claimed to have received that Chief Mokwe is a ‘ritualist’. The Governor carried out the demolition with the aid of his security details and a large number of Onitsha youths whose leader has now been identified as the kingpin in the set up plot against Chief Mokwe.
Prior to the demolition, some police officers had watched as a mob of youth invaded, vandalized and robbed several shops belonging to Chief Mokwe’s tenants in his Plaza located beside the hotel.
The man who lodged and planted the incriminating objects in room 102 of Upper Class Hotel and went away with the room key has been identified as one Mr. Olisa Egbuchiem who checked into the room under the disguised identity of John Obi. His father is said to be in the mortuary business for several years. Also identified as the chief plotter is one Mr. Ayadi Mba who contracted Mr. Olisa Egbuchiem to plant the incriminating objects in the room. Many others who played various roles in the whole set up have also been identified.
It is worthy of note that prior to Chief Mokwe’ arrest and the demolition of his hotel, he had written petitions to the CP Anambra and the Obi of Onitsha alerting them to the invasion of his Plaza/Park by some armed youths led by the self-same Mr. Ayadi Mba. Mr. Ayadi Mba was said to have assaulted, injured and dispossessed traders at the Plaza and also collected at gun point all the money generated from the day’s business from the Plaza caretakers.
Chief Mokwe had on several other occasions alerted the police and traditional authorities in the state about persistent threats by this same man and his gang, but no action was taken by either the police or traditional authorities before this frame up leading to his current ordeal. In all the cases of threat and attack which Chief Mokwe reported to the police and to the Obi of Onitsha, the same group of youths of Umudei village in Onitsha were involved. They were led by Mr. Ayadi Mba who also hails from Umudei village.
Following the incessant threats, harassment and attacks by this same Mr. Ayadi Mba on the life and business of Chief Mokwe, and the failure and neglect by the police and the Obi of Onitsha to respond to his written complaints, he approached the court and obtained a court order restraining Mr. Ayadi Mba and a police officer whom he was using to harass drivers in his Park. The Court issued restraining Orders which were served on Mr. Ayadi Mba, the aforementioned police officer and the Commissioner of Police, Anambra. A copy of the Order was also sent to the Obi of Onitsha through his palace secretary, by one Mr. Dubem Chude. With this Court Order, Anyamelum bus drivers started loading at Chief Mokwe’s park.
Rather than being restrained by the Court Order, Mr. Ayadi Mba became more determined in his excesses culminating in his hatching the frame-up plot which saw him and others planting incriminating objects on Chief Mokwe with the intent to use the police to eliminate him in custody. Despite several petitions by Chief Mokwe’s lawyers informing the Police authorities in Anambra about the criminal activities of Mr. Ayadi Mba and his cohorts, and linking them with the planting of the objects at the hotel, the police are yet to arrest them or commence investigations into the complaints against them”.
This is the ocean that Bonaventure has found himself under the emperor Peter Obi led leadership. It is sheer wickedness and an unjustifiable act of illegality to continue to detain a man more than three months after he was arrested over a phantom crime. Why should people in authority partake in or acquiesce to punishing a man unjustly? Why should a man’s business be destroyed to settle scores? Why should a whole family, dependants and employees be denied the presence and responsibilities of their bread winner and employer? In case Peter Obi do not know, the hotel he illegally destroyed was built in 1973, when Obi was still a teenager, unsure of his future.
For a man who grew up with Peter Obi in the same street to be so humiliated despite his innocence goes to show that the All Progressive Grand Alliance is a party formed to enslave Anambrarians and yet they still come out seeking for their votes.
What manner of police who went to arrest Bonaventure’s wife, who happened to be a lawyer that will spit on a woman simply because she dares to ask why she was been arrested? Yes! A policeman spat on Nkiru’s face. Whoever that police is, that committed such evil act, should be brought to book, and even if the woman cannot identify which of the police spat on her; all the policemen that went to make the arrest should be filed out for them to identify who among them did such dastardly and bastardly act. How could the police arrest an innocent woman and put her in a ‘Black Maria’ as if she was a condemned criminal? Only in Emperor Peter Obi and APGA will such take place.
Here is a man who has not left his family for a full month in the past fifteen years, to be subjected to trauma in prison, by the same government who use his tax to fund his electoral promises for three months now. The real perpetrators have been found and Mr. Obi should be bold enough to arrest them rather than keep an innocent man in SARS, Akwuzu, Anambra State. The police must not allow themselves to be used to shed an innocent man blood, for keeping him away from his family and holding his freedom is tantamount to killing him. Such blood will always cry up to the throne of heavy for justice and when it does, the repercussion goes into generation. Let the police be warned that they do not share in the heavenly punishment that awaits Peter Obi.
Nigerians must call Governor peter Obi to order and not allow him to keep Bonaventure longer. Failure to do this will eventually become a norm by our criminal political leaders tomorrow; and who will cry our cause when we do not cry others now. “He that will make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself”, says Thomas Paine.
We do know that Governor Peter Obi has realized his foolery in hurriedly destroying the hotel and incarcerating him away from public attention. We do know that the emperor governor is afraid that the release of Bonaventure will spark of a legal battle which will be detrimental to his image. We do also know that Mr. Peter Obi do not want Chief Bonaventure to be released until the election will be concluded; when he would have rigged Mr Obaino into government house, knowing that releasing him now will be a bad image for the APGA candidate. But Nigerians do not care what Obi and his political leaning is; he must be forced to release Bonaventure Mokwe and apologize for all the hurt caused him while compensating him for all he has lost; and until this is done, the media war that will rubbish the APGA candidate has just begun. On this you can count on me that APGA will never occupy the seat of power in Anambra State.
The time is ticking and Emperor Obi must act fast before the 20th of October, 2013. It’s not a threat but a promise. Men like governor Obi do not deserve to lead; neither do they have the moral justification to install a candidate who will succeed them. The continous detention of Chief Bonaventure Mokwe will be the Albatross that will consume APGA in the November 2013 election.
These little things matter…
Fejiro Oliver, a Journalist can be reached on secretsreporters@gmail.com and +2348026797588 (sms only please). Engage him on twitter @fejirooliver86 and Facebook; fejirooliver86. Like our Facebook page- secretsreporters
