A
widow, Mrs. Patience Adumekwe, whose two boys have been remanded in
prison for almost two years, is calling on the Governor of Delta State,
Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan to intervene and help her sons regain their
liberty. According to the widow, her sons, Chika and Charles (Omoh) were
charged with the murder of a 400level undergraduate identified as
Ogikighere Emmanuel, alias Onos.Mrs. Adumekwe, who said that her children were innocent of the charges levelled against them, added that the case had no witnesses. She explained that the only witness was the complaint, who also happened to be the deceased boy’s mother, Mrs. Anna Mayemi.
She further alleged that Mrs. Anna pinned the murder on her sons because,” she had earlier vowed to deal with Chika for dragging her son to the police station over a stolen phone.” When Onos was killed, seven boys, alleged to be members of the Eiye Confraternity were arrested.
Others were, however, allowed to go after police investigation, but Mrs. Adumekwe’s boys are still in prison for almost two years now, waiting for the trial to start. Chika and Charles had also distanced themselves from the killing of Onos. Indeed, while Chika said he knew nothing about the shooting to death of Onos, his younger brother, Charles, a member of Eiye cult group, alleged that one Uche shot and killed Onos over battle for the leadership of the group.
Charles further said that Onos had spent more than the stipulated tenure for a Capone (leader of the cult group), but had refused to step down for Uche to take over. The police are, however, not too sure of the boys’ innocence, even though all other suspects who had been granted bail confessed not to know who shot Onos.
While the boys are in prison custody, waiting for the case to begin, their mother is asking Uduaghan to intervene and urged the State’s Ministry of Justice to grant her sons bail. Mrs. Adumekwe said: “My boys were charged to court and remanded in prison for almost two years now while the case had not even started.
They would have been released like other suspects in the case, but the only problem is that I don’t have money. I’m just a struggling widow with 10 children. Since my husband died, life not been easy.”
The woman, who broke down in tears as she narrated how her children got to prison, said that she was worried that the boys might be condemned to death or sentenced to life imprisonment. The young men, who were once students of the Delta State University, Abraka, had had trying situations. Chika, the eldest of the two, popular in campus, was once accused of killing a boy during a factional cult groups.
Indeed, New Telegraph gathered that Chika was a member before he renounced the group. The victim, the New Telegraph learnt, was lynched after he allegedly slapped a rival member who later mobilised and unleashed terror on him. Chika was later allegedly exonerated from the crime. Barely 18 months after that, Mrs. Adumekwe was, once again, thrown into another round of trauma; this time around, it was a murder case.
This was the case involving Onos. The father of Emmanuel who is a politician in the university town, refused to listen to pleadings. Mrs. Adumekwe felt that the trouble that visited her sons could be traced to when some unknown youngsters, attempted to set their family house ablaze.
Mrs. Adumekwe recalled: “The following day, one of the boys who set the house on fire came back to check whether the house actually got burnt. Chika and his friends caught him and handed him over to the police. Chika was later invited for interrogation. That was how he was detained. We made efforts to bail him but to no avail.
“He was later transferred to the Command Headquarters, Asaba; from there he was charged to the High Court in Isiokolo and remanded in prison custody in Sapele. Barrister Tayo secured bail for Chika. Few weeks after, Chika was thrown into prison in Sapele again.” She said that while this drama was going on, Charles, his younger brother, was in Lagos. Mrs. Adumekwe recalled: “Seven boys were accused alongside my sons to have killed Mrs. Anna Mayemi’s son. Five others had since been set free, except my sons.
As I speak with you now, there is no witness in the matter except that the victim’s mother has become a witness in her own matter.” She continued: “Trouble started close to two years ago when Anna’s late son, Emmanuel (Onos) stole Chika’s Black-Berry phone on campus. Anna got angry because Chika reported the matter to the police. She said my son tarnished her image.
The matter was later settled out of police station. “Emmanuel again stole another person’s phone and the person happened to be Chika’s friend. Chika, again, led his friend to report the matter to the police. That was how the woman became furious and threatened to deal ruthlessly with my family. “I understand that the late boy was caught up in a cult clash that ensued between rival groups in the university.
Since there was no one to be blamed for his death, Mrs. Anna blamed my sons.” The widow said because the boy’s mother was highly placed in Delta State, she wanted her sons dead for accusing Onos of stealing phones. In a court suit, filed at the High Court of Justice Delta State, Isiokolo, Chika Adumekwe was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The suit further states: “Chika, on or about 25th September, 2012, at Abraka, within Isiokolo judicial division conspired with others at large to murder one Ogikighere Emmanuel alias Onos.”
According to a statement of witness made by one Godwin Akume, 42 Uncle to the late Ogikighere Emmanuel, apparently, the deceased had been receiving threatening calls from Chika before his death. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) of the case, Mr. Corporal Ekaezne Chinedum, attached to Abraka Police Station, stated in statement of witness transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), “The mother of the boy who was shot stated that on July, 21, 2012, she was in her house at Sapele when she received a phone call via this number 08038567333 and the number belonged to B1 (Chika) of this case file and the caller told her that his name was Chika, which she later knew to be Chika Adumekwe.
He told her to warn her son, Onoriode (Onos) that was killed, that he should beware of him, that if she did not warn him, that anything she sees, she would manage it. She reported the case to Abraka Police Station.”
In her own statement, Mrs. Anna, married to Honourable Isiah Omasheye, explained that sometime in July 2012, Onos complained that one Chika used to have quarrels with him. “So I went to Abraka from Sapele to see them, that was how I got to know Chika and we exchanged phone numbers,” wrote Mrs. Anna.
After a while, the next text messages she received from Chika, were threatening ones. The text message states in part: “…that thief you called a son have started. I have been calling you since yesterday with a glo line, but you refused to pick, tell him I am giving him 30 days from now, to return that phone he collected or else he will have a case with the school authority and the Police Force…”
After that message, her son was allegedly killed in 30 days. She had later received a text message which states: ‘The names of the killers are; Omoh (Charles), Chika, Festus, Jeff and Precious.” According to Mrs. Anna, after the death of her son, his cellphone was used in sending her another text message which read thus: “Don’t point hand on anybody, we were only sent to do a job. He had a quarrel with somebody.”
Mrs. Anna said she felt it was Chika behind her son’s death because, “he was the only person I settled a quarrel between him and my son and he used to send text messages to me. I don’t know how my son got to know Chika and I did not know my son belonged to any bad group.”
Mrs. Anna got to know about her son’s death through his girlfriend, Regina, who called her. The lady told her that she and the late Onos were inside the house when the deceased’s phone rang. He told his girlfriend that somebody was calling him, that he would be back soon.
Onos called a friend, Essey to accompany him. The two guys left and the next thing Regina heard was that Onos was dead. In his own statement, Chika said that he was a member of Eiye cult group in the year 2006, but he later renounced it. He said that he was forcefully initiated by one Efe Bose, now in the UK. He said that he knew the late Emmanuel as Onos and as Eiye cult group leader.
He added: “I happened to know this when I reported him to police for stealing my friend Churchill’s phone. Onos friend, Doggy told me the person I reported was their cult leader. “On 25/9/2012, at about 2am, some group of boys came to my house.
They set house on fire and we succeeding in dousing it. I called police to my house. They came and witnessed the incident. By then, the boys had ran away. They later came back on 26/9/2012 and set my house on fire again. I came out and chased them, but could not arrest any of them. We went back to douse the fire.”
According to Chika, it was when he went back to the police station to make a second report that he heard that Onos had been shot dead. He was arrested and detained. It was also there he heard that the deceased’s mother had made a formal complaint against him for threatening her son’s life.
“ I agreed that I sent her a text message, but not a threatening text message. What I said was that she should tell her criminal son to return the phone he forcefully collected from Gift Omare in campus.
She replied me that it’s my generations that are criminals. That I will die prematurely,” stated Chika. Chika added that he used to see his brother, Charles, with the late Onos, but he didn’t know the nature of their relationship. He added: “I have no hands in the death of Onos.”
In his own statement, Charles said he gained admission into the Delta State University, Abraka in 2008, but later dropped out because of cult activities.
He left for Lagos, to start repairing handsets. He said that he was in Lagos when he received calls from Precious, telling him that he was with other friends, Uche and Awele, at that point in time. They told him that their leader, Onos, had ruled for a year and did not want to vacate the position as was the rule.
They said that they were all angry with their leader. Charles wrote: “They told me that they had called for a meeting, so that they would discuss about the handing over. Precious told me this entire story on phone.
“He said that the boy called Uche brought out a gun. I don’t know what happened when both of them started arguing, the gun with Uche killed Onos. I had told the members that I had renounce d cultism, which was why I left for Lagos. Precious told me this entire story on September, 25, 2012.” He argued that he was set up by the cult members because he renounced the group. “I know Onos before I left for Lagos. He was the Head of the Supreme Eiye Confraternity while I was a member. Precious told me that Uche shot Onos. I had been in Lagos since September 15, 2012.
They told me that they sent a message to Onos’ mother, including my name Charles (Omoh).” He said that since his arrest, he had not discussed with Chika for them to tailor their story along the same way. He added that Chika was not a member of the confraternity.
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