Damian Duruiheoma, Owerri
Okwu Emeke Village in Emekuku town, Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State is currently boiling over the death of one of their own, Omeni Ajaero, who was allegedly killed by the eldest son of the family, Thaddeus Ajaero in collaboration with some policemen at the Zone 9 Police Zonal Headquarters, Umuahia.
Omeni, a son of the three wives of Late business mogul, Chief J. N. Ajaero, was said to have died following the crisis that befell the family over the property left behind by Late Chief Ajaero.
According to another son of the late businessman, Uwaoma Hilary Ajaero, Omeni was a victim greed and avarice perpetuated by their senior brother, Thaddeus, who withheld all the property left behind by their late father and using same to trying to exterminate the other members of the family that are not of the same mother with him.
He told journalists that after the death of their father, the family became embroiled in cantankerous disputes over the property of their late father.
“Our late father, Chief J. N. Ajaero married three wives and each of whom bore him sons and Thaddeus, Edwin and Daniel are the sons of the first wife, Mrs. Monica Ajaero. So, the bad blood created by the disputes over the property of our late father was so deep that almost on daily basis, our lives, I mean the lives of the children of the other two wives, were being threatened and assassination attempts made our lives by Thaddeus and his kid brothers”, Uwaoma said.
He accused the family lawyer, one Barr. Aham Ejelam, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Port Harcourt-based lawyer of illegally handing over their father’s property to Thaddeus, who he said had since been usurping them because according to him, the lawyer was profiteering from the family crisis.
“Since our father died, the first wife and their accomplice, people like Augustine Mbata, and even our family lawyer, Barr. Aham Ejelam (SAN) who gave them the documents of our father’s property with which they used now to haunt our lives. The lawyer, who is also our cousin, for whatever reason, decided to give the documents of our father’s property to Thaddeus without consulting us the other members of the family. With this, they sold most of our father’s property without letter of administration and without the consent of the children of the second and third wives.
He added that Thaddeus and his mother had even told him openly that that he would be the first to die by the time they would face him and the other children.
This, he said, was because he queried the rationale behind Thaddeus, his mother and siblings selling off most of their father’s property without recourse to the other members of the family.
“We even wrote to the incumbent governor, human rights organizations, police, traditional ruler and village chiefs including our brother, Archbishop Anthony Obinna to get them to do the right thing by giving us our own portion of our father’s property, all to no avail.
“It was based on the several threats to and assassination attempts on our lives, myself and the now late Omeni Ajaero by Thaddeus that compelled us to lodge a complaint at the Imo State Police Headquarters, Owerri”, he satated.
“So, on 4th May, 2015, myself and Omeni went to the Imo State police headquarters, Owerri on their invitation for us to be interviewed over our complaint of threat to life against Thaddeus, we were informed on arrival that while our complaint was pending at the State Police Headquarters, Owerri, Thaddeus and his brother Edwin Ajaero had gone to the Zone 9 Police Headquarters, Umuahia to lodge a complaint, turning our complaint at Owerri against us that we were threatening to kill him. We were also told at Owerri that police officers from Zone 9 Umuahia were already waiting to take us to Umuahia.
“We were then arrested at the Police State Headquarters, Owerri, handcuffed and taken to Umuahia where they detained us overnight.
“Then, on 5th May, 2005, the investiging Police Officer (IPO), one Aniekeme and one other policeman named Kuti, came into the cell where we were being detained and called out Omeni and took him away without telling me his brother where they were taking him to. About two hours later, the IPO and his colleague called me out from the cell and urgently told me to fill the bail bond papers for myself and Omeni, whose where about I was yet to know”, he narrated.
Uwaoma added that upon enquiry about the where about of Omeni, he was told by the IPO that he (Omeni) was “outside”.
His words: “When I completed the bail bond papers, the IPO took me to his vehicle outside where I saw Omeni in the car, in an almost an unconscious condition, foaming from the mouth and groaning. In this state, Omeni could not even talk and when I asked what happened to my brother, the IPO told me that in the course of interrogating Omeni, he (Omeni) “started behaving somehow” and so he took him to the police Hospital nearby where he was administered with an injection. He also told me that Omeni might be reacting to the injection administered on him at the hospital, Umuahia. He told me that Omeni has been referred to Holy Rosary Hospital, Emekuku in Owerri, Imo State.
On arrival at the Emekuku Hospital, he continued, the condition of the deceased then became so deteriorated that the doctors at the Emekuku Mission Hospital were bent on knowing the substance that was injected on Omeni.
“But, all the IPO volunteered in reply was that nothing was given to him except a stick of cigarette he smoked during interrogation”, he stated.
Uwaoma stated that the Emekuku Hospital could not handle Omeni’s case as it was beyond their capacity and quickly referred him to the Federal Medical Centre, where he eventually died on 7th May, 2015.
He recalled that when they were initially taken to the Zone 9 Police Headquarters, Umuahia, they were told that they would only be bailed with the sum of N200,000, but were curiously released on bail on “self recognition”
Based on the manner they were arrested and bailed without any amount charged him, Uwaoma insisted that his brother, Omeni Ebenezer Ajaero, was a victim of murder conspiracy between the IPO and Thaddeus Ajaero with his siblings and mother.
Omeni’s death, according to Uwaoma, might have resulted from the inducement of the IPO by Thaddeus and siblings to the IPO to torture him to death or give him a toxic substatnce that devastated his internal organs.
He recalled that on the day he and his late brother were arrested at the gathering of the village at Okwu Emeke, Thaddeus openly announced that Omeni and himself (Uwaoma) would not escape elimination by him no matter how far they would run.
He insisted that the intention of Thaddeus and his siblings was to eliminate the other children of Late J.N Ajaero and by that, cover all the traits to his usurping all the estates of Late Chief J.N Ajaero and paving the way for him and his maternal brothers to be the sole inheritors of their late father.
To carry out this objective, Uwaoma stated, Thaddeus stormed the family house at Okwu Emeke before 3 am with the same squad of policemen in two vehicles with registration numbers, NPF 8048C and NPF 8049C, adding that they abducted one of his younger brothers, who was rescued through the intervention of the entire community who blocked the exit and entrance gates to the village.
To this end, Uwaoma and his mother had since petitioned the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 9 Umuahia to as a matter of urgency initiate a full scale investigation of the circumstances that led to the death of Omeni Ajaero.
In the petition signed titled “WRONGFUL KILLING OF OMENI AJAERO BY OFFICERS OF THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE IN CONSPIRACY WITH THADDEUS AJAERO…”, their lawyer, Don Onwuegbulam raised pertinent posers for the Zone 9 Police headquarters, Umuahia such as:
“What happened to or was wrong with Omeni in the first place that made the IPO take him to the police hospital nearby? Why was Uwaoma, not informed not informed by the IPO that Omeni was sick and he wanted to him to the police hospital? Why was Omeni not referred to a hospital in Umuahia such as the Federal Medical Centre or General Hospital, all of which are a stone throw away from the Zone 9 Police Headquarters?
The petition continued the query: “What was so serious with Omeni’s health condition that he had to be referred to Emekuku Mission Hospital in far away Imo State? How come the names of Uwaoma and the late Omeni were not displayed on the board for list of suspects? And how come Uwaoma and the late Omeni were hurriedly granted bail in their ‘personal recognition’?”
Reacting to the allegation, Thaddeus Ajaero denied being responsible for Omeni’s death, which he said was shocking to him.
According to him, “I am the first son of Chief J.N Ajaero and the managing director of Chief J.N Ajaero and company. My father was a well known wealthy man in Imo State. He was carrying all of us along until his last wife, Mrs. Bridget Ajaero introduced divisive tendencies to our father. She told our father then that any of his sons who finished secondary school should be left to cater for himself and my father capitalized on that and did not send any of us to university.
“Uwaoma was in Zimbabwe but was deported after nine years and he didn’t returned home with anything. When he returned, he accused my mother of being responsible for his deportation and that was the beginning of this whole problem in the family”, he began.
Thaddeus told journalists that his half brothers started demanding to share their father’s landed property along Egbu Road, Owerri, but he refused because the land matter was in court with Owerri people who also laid claims to the same property.
“Some times they would use machete to chase me away and even threatened to kill me and my direct siblings. So, when this threat became too much, I reported them to the police who came and arrested them at the state police command, Owerri”.
He disclosed that based on the account of the IPO in charge of the matter at Zone 9 headquarters, Umuahia, doctors at the FMC confirmed that Omeni died of burst appendicitis.
“I didn’t kill him. How can I kill my own brother because of money? Omeni died and Uwaoma went to the village to tell the people that I killed him and the villagers came to my compound and destroyed my property.
“As a result, I stayed outside for one week, begging our village chairman to give me chance to come and explain. But he refused, believing what Uwaoma and co told him that I killed my brother, Omeni. I did not kill him. In fact, I am very much interested in who or what killed Omeni.
When interviewed on his role in the family crisis, Barr. Ejelam denied having any hand in the problem bedeviling the Ajaero family, which he said is his maternal home, denying also being the lawyer of the family because, according to him, nobody in the family had ever paid him to render any service.
He also denied handing any document over to Thaddeus and aiding him to sell any property belonging to Late J.N. Ajaero.
Ejelam stated that his involvement in the family was because of his relationship and that he had even tried on his own to bring peace to the family without success.
When The UNION contacted the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Zone 9, Emma Jiakponna, he abused the reporter first and quit the call without allowing the question to come. He also refused to pick subsequent calls put to his phone. Even the text messages sent to his phone line could not be replied.
