Murder mess

Five years ago, a scene from the epic horror movie series, the ‘Hammer House of Horror,’ played out, when two young men from the same parents were brutally murdered at Amaeke, Ishiagu, in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The first victim, Chukwuma Ajah, it was gathered, was beaten black and blue on July 15, 2008, by a group of men, who later forced his bleeding body into the booth of a Mercedes Benz car and drove off. Some metres away, the car had stopped and he was thrown out and set ablaze.
While one account had it that the young man was burnt alive, another disclosed that he was killed before his corpse was roasted, like sacrifice to some gods.
Saturday Sun gathered that barely three weeks after the gruesome murder of Chukwuma, his younger brother, Obinna Ajah, was also murdered on August 8, 2008. The younger Ajah’s  assailants, it was gathered, had put the nozzle of a gun in his ear and pulled the trigger. His head was blown to pieces. The assailants buried him and walked away.
Saturday Sun gathered that for about four and half years, after the Amaeke killings, nothing happened to those who participated. However, following petitions, the police eventually made some arrests early this year. In the police action, the duo of John Okorie and Akwa Ejimofor were arrested and arraigned in a magistrate’s court. While the former was granted bail, the latter is still in prison, awaiting trial. Others who were fingered in the crime are at large.
For five years, the Ajahs have been weeping in the valley of tears. They have been enveloped in palpable sorrow, anguish and trauma. Their loss, in the killing of the two brothers, brought their world crashing. For one, they cannot even visit their homestead anymore, as the assailants are said to be baying for more blood from the family.
According to father of the victims, Mr. Augustine Ajah, alias Pepsi, the assailants are on the prowl, threatening to kill him if he dared them by “making a case.” So, out of fear, he no longer comes home. He has become a fugitive of some sorts.
In an agitated voice, the distraught father said, on telephone: “The people who killed my children are also threatening to kill me. They want to eliminate me. They said that if I try to make a case over the matter, they would kill me. That is why I’ve been running away from my hometown because you cannot hear that you would be killed without trying to preserve your life.”
The mother of Chukwuma and Obinna, Mrs. Anna Ajah, is devastated by the development. A family source volunteered: “Their mother is emotionally ill. Since her children were killed in their prime, the woman has become a shadow of her old self. She seemed to be in a permanent state of shock. She just cannot get over it. But who would blame her? To make matters worse, the woman was harassed and intimidated openly as she betrayed emotions when the matter eventually came up in court.”
The making of horror movies
Narrating the chilling event, Eugene Ajah, an uncle to the victims, said that Chukwuma and Obinna were accused of stealing, but nobody had mentioned what they stole or the owner of whatever they allegedly stole.
Hear him: “Obinna and Chukwuma were my sister’s children. One morning, in 2008, I was buying some things in the market when I heard that a thief was arrested at Amaeke, which is where my sister married. I rushed down there to see the thief that was caught. When I got there, I saw that the person arrested was Chukwuma, my sister’s son. I asked what he stole that made him to be arrested? I did not see him with anything. One Chima came with a green coloured Mercedes Benz car (Coupe) and it was with that car that Chukwuma was taken away. They tied his hands and legs and forced him into the booth of the car. We thought that they were taking him to the police station, but they took him to expressway leading to Awgu and killed him there. After killing him, they burnt the corpse there.
“Not long after, they also went and arrested Obinna, Chukwuma’s younger brother. They arrested him at Alaokpa, in Abia State, where he was living, accusing him of committing the alleged crime (stealing) with his elder brother. They took him to Pipeline, where they put a gun in his ear and shot him. They also buried him there. It was the same group that killed Chukwuma that also killed Obinna.”
His voice quaking in sorrow, Eugene Ajah added: “Chukwuma was living in Aba, Abia State, where he was an Okada man (commercial motorcycle operator).  He had not been home for about six years. He returned because his father asked him to come home and marry, that he had come of age. He came to Ishiagu to wait for his father to return from his station so that they can commence the marriage rites.”
Between the late Obinna and his assailants
Checks revealed that Obinna was an associate of one of those who participated in his killing. It was gathered that they fell apart because the man did not want to respect the agreement he had with Obinna when he contested for a position in the community’s youth association.
Sources revealed that after securing victory, the man refused to pay Obinna for the job he did. Angered, Obinna had confronted him and they exchanged words. The man allegedly promised to deal with Obinna.
It was gathered that the man had stormed Obinna’s compound, one day with some boys, but they did not see him. The mob had arrested Obinna’s elder brother, Chukwuma, who was killed in July 2008. Obinna was said to have challenged the man who organised the mob and he also fell victim in August 2008.
It was alleged that after the killings, the suspected assailants went about town boasting and declaring: “Any tree that stands on our way will be cut.”
Crimes galore
It was gathered that Ishiagu had been the theatre of perennial crises, some of which resulted in deaths. A native of Okue Ishiagu, who identified himself simply as Ikechukwu said: “The gruesome murder of Chukwuma and Obinna Ajah is one of the most heinous crimes ever committed in Ishiagu land.  The group had also killed another girl and buried her corpse at Ivo LGA headquarters.  They have been perpetrating similar open day light crimes in the community, including hijacking of community money from companies crushing rocks in the place. Each time they commit any of these crimes, they are taken to Zone 6, Calabar only to be taken on bail by their godfather, who was said to holding a high position at the local government area. When they were bailed, after the dastardly killing of these two boys, you hear them boasting at local joints in the village that it was a matter of N2m (two million naira) for the case to end.
“Police authorities should take holistic steps to find out their men in Zone 6, who usually collect money from these hoodlums and release them. Only God in Heaven knows how much of Ishiagu community’s money that goes to Calabar each time. Now that God has made one of the gang members to expose the evil, the whole world is patiently waiting for justice.”
Quest for justice
Despite the threats by the accused persons, who are said to parade themselves as ‘untouchables,’ efforts have been made to get justice. In a petition dated October 3, 2008, Mr. Augustine Ajah, through the chambers of Chief Ferdinand Eke & Co and addressed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6, Calabar, alleged that some indigenes of Ishiagu, whose names he mentioned, “brutalised and illegally murdered” Chukwuma. He added: “On the 18th day of August, 2008, these same persons moved in, assaulted and finally murdered Mr. Obinna Ajah, the younger brother of the first deceased person.
“In their bid to execute this unlawful act, they made use of an AK 47 rifle and a pistol, which is owned by one … (names withheld by us)… We hereby write that you use your respectable office to investigate these matters, so as to bring the perpetrators of these unlawful and unconscionable acts to book.”
In another petition dated January 29, 2009 and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Ishiagu Community Development Union (ICDU) observed that Mr. Augustine Ajah’s petition did not achieve the desired aim because a politician in the area “claims to have buried the case with money. The petition accused a politician from the area of putting a killer squad together, stressing: “Moreover, the killer squad has become a source of worry to his political opponents.”
The petition, which was signed by former President-General of ICDU, Chief Cletus Ike Nga, maintained that the killer squad uses “dangerous weapons, like AK 47, pump action etc. Nobody has a right to take laws into his hands and kill people by calling them armed robbers.
“The father of the deceased persons, Mr. Augustine Ajah of Amaeke village Ishiagu complained to the AIG Zone 6 Calabar through his lawyer, but nothing serious happened.”
In conclusion, the petitioner said: “I am therefore, respectfully calling on your office to cause a proper investigation to be carried out on this matter before this squad kills other innocent Ishiagu people.”
Arraignment of the accused in court
John Okorie, 34, and Akwa Ejimofor, 25, have been arraigned at the Magistrate’s Court in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, earlier this year, for conspiring with one another to commit murder. Other suspects are on the run.
The charges read: “That you John Okorie ‘M,’ Akwa Ejimofor and others now at large on the July 15, 2008 at Amaeke Ishiagu, in the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did conspire to kill one Ajah Chukwuma ‘M’ and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 324 of the criminal code cap 33, vol. 1 laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria 2009.
“Count 11: That you John Okorie, ‘M’, Akwa Ejimofor ‘M’ and others now at large on the 15th day of July, 2008 at Amaeke Ishiagu, in the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did murder one Ajah Chukwuma ‘M’ by hitting him with sticks and set him ablaze and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 319(1) of the criminal code cap 33 vol. 1 Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria 2009.
“Count 111: That you John Okorie ‘M’, Akwa Ejimofor ’M’ and others now at large on the 8th day of August 2008 at Amata Ishiagu, in the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did murder one Obinna Ajah ‘M’ by shooting him with a locally-made gun on the head and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 319(1) of the Criminal code cap 33 vol. 1 Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria 2009.”
A few months after the suspects were arraigned, members of the community are getting apprehensive, as to why the case has not been mentioned again in court.
 SUN