Where is the UN on these horrific events in Nigeria? STUDENT SECRET SOCIETY MURDERS IN NIGERIA
11:02 2002-06-24
A secret society of students has murdered 17 people in Nigeria, the latest of a number of such killings in recent months.
In this latest massacre, seventeen people were shot dead and an undisclosed number were wounded at a university in southeast Nigeria, the University of Nsukka, in the state of Enugu. This university, with 10,000 students, is considered as one of the best in the country.
The Nigerian authorities calculate that there are some 20 secret societies active in Nigeria, which have been responsible for a spate of killings in recent months, in which hundreds of people have died, some in situations of extreme cruelty.
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For NBA, Two Murders Too Many
This Day (Lagos)
OPINION
September 24, 2002
Posted to the web September 24, 2002
Lagos
The Nigerian Bar Association last Wednesday stood still for slain colleagues: Mr. Barnabas Igwe, NBA Onitsha Branch Chairman and his wife, Mrs. Abigail Igwe. Rallies were held at its branches nationwide to protest their gruesome murder. JANE INYANG, JUDE IGBANOI and VICTOR EFEZOMOR were at the rallies at the Ikeja and Lagos Judicial Divisions
On the first day of September, 2002 Nigerian lawyers woke up to the sad news of the mindless assassination of two Bar activists, the late Mr. and Mrs. Barnabas Igwe. Members of the Nigerian Bar Association who had just concluded a rather successful National Conference were distraught at the shocking news and the nation was aghast. The NBA had lost not just two of its ordinary members, for the Igwes were notable Bar activists.
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The National Executive Committee of the NBA led by the newly elected NBA President, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, called a press conference immediately and registered its protest over the heinous act in the strongest terms. Giving a graphic account of how the Igwes were murdered, Olanipekun recounted "that information made available revealed that the Barrister and Mrs. Igwe returned to Onitsha on Saturday August 31, 2002 after participating fully in the just concluded NBA national conference at Ibadan. The following day being Sunday September 1, 2002, they went to visit a friend and while returning to their home at about 7pm to 8pm their car was rudely intercepted by the assasins and within a twinkle of an eye, the assailants armed with guns and machetes, blocked the couple's car and started shooting sporadically into the air.
Thereafter, the couple was dragged out of their car and several machete cuts inflicted on them. Mrs. Igwe's left leg was cut and severed from her entire body. She was also macheted on her waist with the aim of separating the upper torso from the lower one, while a deep wide gash was left on her waist. Mr. Igwe was not spared as he was macheted several times and shot at close range and not satisfied, the assailants lay them on the road and overran them with a vehicle to ensure that they did not survive". At the press conference, the Chief Executive of Anambra State was lampooned over the unfortunate incident. The NBA called for a high powered investigation into the incident, independent of the Anambra State government. It maintained that the murders must be unravelled. These, indeed, were two murders too many.
Lagos Axis
True to its words the NBA bared its fangs on Wednesday when it gave a battle cry and called upon all its chapters nationwide to come out to hold protest rallies all over the country in respect of these murders. In spite of heavy showers in Lagos, lawyers came out in solidarity at the various centres. At the Lagos High Court, venue of one of the rallies, the attendance was unexpectedly high. Old and young, ancient and modern, private and corporate, they all came for the rally.
At the Lagos Judicial Division, the rally kicked off with a procession round the premises of the Lagos High Court. This was followed by a two minute solemn silence and thereafter, prayers for the repose of the souls of the departed colleagues.
Oratories started with Chief Debo Akande, SAN, capturing the mood of the Bar praying that such fate should never befall the NBA again. When Mr. Tunji Gomez, former NBA (Lagos Chapter) General Secretary and Bar activist in his hey days, mounted the rostrum there was such an outpouring of grief and not many eyes remained dry . In his speech titled, 'This is our profession', he urged lawyers to protect the Bar and the Bench. He also lamented the fact that nine months after the assassination of the nation's Chief Law Officer, Chief Bola Ige, SAN, the government is still groping in the dark to find his killers. The senior lawyer who is now now in his seventies promised that the Igwes' murder must not go the way of Ige's. In his opinion, even the judges are not safe. He ended his speech by asking 'who is next?
A Bar activist of note and prominent member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Mrs. Stella Ugbomah, recounted in her speech how Mrs. Abigail Igwe acted effectively as her polling agent at the NBA national elections at Ibadan. She advocated that the Bar must act as Ombudsman for the common man to ensure good governance and accountability. She used the forum to call on lawyers to come out and contest for elective officers to change governance in Nigeria. Mrs. Ugbomah's call for a National Hall of Fame and a National Hall of Shame for lawyers was well applauded. Lawyers in public offices who let down the profession, beware! She saw the early morning showers that day as a blessing and a confirmation that the Igwes' souls were in the bosom of the Lord.
New Silk, Emeka Ngige, SAN, proposed that the Nigeria Police should hand over the investigations into the various murders of lawyers across the country to Scotland Yard and the FBI since they had failed woefully in trying to unravel these murders. He wondered why, after such murders, we only hear of riff-raffs being apprehended but we never get to hear of those who sent them. In his view, there is undoubtedly a siege against the legal profession. For how else can one explain why the late Chief Bola Ige, SAN, was murdered in cold blood, late Chief Magistrate Marie-Terese Nsa in Cross River State had her life snuffed out, late Mr. S. Ugwu, a lawyer in Enugu State, was killed, and now the Igwes. The list is rising and something has to be done, he demanded. Mr. Ngige urged the NBA to disregard the panel set up by the Anambra State governor as a party cannot be a judge in its own case. Governor Mbadinuju has since succumbed to pressure by shelving plans to set up a judicial commission of enquiry into the murders. This ostensibly to allow for a thorough and dispassionate investigation into the atrocious act.
Mr. Emeka Nwosu spoke last. He broke the blood-chilling news of the politically motivated murder of the husband of Chief Magistrate Obine, in Anambra State a few days ago. In his speech titled, 'Away with Tyranny in Anambra State', he regretted that the sad thing was that the governor of the troubled state, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, is a lawyer. He asked the NBA to act decisively and implored the Lagos Chapter of the NBA to work with the Onitsha Chapter in investigating the murders. He was saddened by the fact that in a state governed by a lawyer, courts had been closed down while schools had been closed due to non-payment of salaries.
Among notable Legal Practitioners present at this venue were Chief Debo Akande, SAN, Mr. Tunji Gomez, Mr. Festus Keyamo, Chief O. Iyiola, former NBA Lagos branch president, Mrs. Bassey, and Ms. Carol Ajie, former NBA Lagos Branch Secretary.
The Ikeja Axis
At about 10.30 a.m, lawyers numbering about one thousand in their full regalia had assembled at the Ikeja High Court to start the procession. After the preliminary prayers for the repose of the souls of the departed ones, the group proceeded to the office of the Chief Judge of Lagos State to present their protest letter, after which they moved to the Governor's Office at Alausa to present a protest letter to the Governor. The delegation was led by the National General Secretary, Deacon Dele Adesina, Chairman of Ikeja Branch, Mr. Ade Ademuwagu and Secretary-General African Bar Association (ABA) Mr. Femi Falana. Needless to say, they had audience with the Bar-friendly Chief Executive of Lagos State, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Attorney-General, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
The NBA President's speech was presented to the governor. The speech called for the prohibition of ethnic militias which were alleged as the perpetrators of these murders.
The Chief Judge of Lagos State Justice Ibitola Sotiminu in a speech delivered on her behalf by Justice Augustine Ade-Alabi condemned the murders and expressed her belief that politics could be played without violence and rancour.
Food for Thought
At both centres, lawyers broke up into small groups at the end of the proceedings and expressed among themselves concerns, worries and apprehension over the consequences of these heinous acts that have been visited on the noble profession in recent times. Many went home sad, wondering what this would portend for a nation which is trying to create an enabling environment for foreign in vestors.
Lagos State Attorney-General Professor Yemi Osinbajo, for instance, is of the opinion that this kind of wanton destruction of human lives is a bad omen for our fledgling democracy. Though it was a work free day for the Bar and Bench in Lagos and other states, reports reaching us as at the time of going to press were that the Anambra State Police High Command invoked the Public Order Act which prohibits rallies, demonstration and such like and threatened to deal ruthlessly with anyone who dared to flout that order. Lawyers who, by the nature of their calling, have traditionally been at the vanguard of the preservation of fundamental human rights have however refused to be intimidated or cowed.
Conclusion
Even as the murder of the Igwes remains a puzzle, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr. Tafa Balogun has directed a full scale investigation into the case as the force CID has been moved down to Onitsha to fish out the Igwes killers and to unravel the circumstances of the murder and bring the perpetrators to book.
There is evidently no confidence in the Nigeria Police by Legal Practitioners, what with strident calls for Scotland Yard and the FBI to investigate the murder of the late Bola Ige, SAN, and the Igwes.
The threats by the Police High Command in Anambra State banning any rally or gathering vide the Public Order Act to forestall the rally that was to hold that day by the Onitsha NBA Chapter has not helped to bolster the public's confidence in them.
Most legal practitioners are in agreement that under a democratic system of government, fundamental constitutional rights such as that of assembly and speech as enshrined in Ss 39(1) and 40 of the 1999 Constitution should be guaranteed.
The circumstances of the death of the Igwes should indeed compel us to take a critical look at certain aspects of our national life, politics and security to enable us come to terms with the missing links, without which incidents like these with their dangerous potentials of destablising the current political dispensation may become a recurrent feature in this country.
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Five students have been kidnapped and burned alive in a new wave of campus violence in Nigeria. The country's university sector is troubled by feuding between secret sects. At the Ondo State Polytechnic, a group of men from one sect entered the campus and clashed with a rival group, but the 'invaders' were captured, tied down and soaked with petrol before being set alight. Six students have been arrested for the murders. The deaths are just the latest in twenty years of attacks, resulting in hundreds of deaths, as cults exercise a reign of terror within the Nigerian University system. In the past weeks at the University of Nigeria (Enugu State), a mass shooting resulted in the death of over 20 people, leading to the indefinite closure of the university. Police estimate there are at least 20 active sects despite a law banning them being passed in 1999.
Misna, Five students killed
BBC, Police are investigating the campus killings
Xinhuanet, Six Nigerian Students Arrested Over Cult Activities
Pravda, Student secret society murders in Nigeria
educationet.org
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Focus on rising cases of political assassination
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
LAGOS, 28 October (IRIN) - The killers who snuffed life out of Barnabas Igwe, president of a local branch of the Nigerian bar association, and his wife at Onitsha, southeastern Nigeria on 1 September, were spectacular in their brutality.
They blocked the couple's car at a busy intersection in the early evening, then dealt each several matchete cuts and shot them repeatedly. The killers then laid their bodies on the road and rode over them with a car before escaping into the dusk.
This roused outrage from a shocked populace. But it is only one incident in a string of political assassinations recorded across Nigeria in recent months.
Some of the most known cases include the 15 August murder of Ahmad Pategi, chairman of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the central region Kwara State; the 29 August murder of Victor Nwankwo, publisher and politician, in southeast Enugu State and the 24 September killing of Isyaku Mohammed, chairman of the newly registered United Nigeria People's Party in the northern city of Kano.
A common feature of all these cases was that nothing was taken from the victims to indicate a motive of robbery. All the victims also had strong political views or affiliations to justify the tag of political assassination.
Igwe was a very vocal critic of the Anambra State government. He had opposed the introduction of an anti-crime vigilante group (known as the Bakassi Boys) in Onitsha and other parts of the state by governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju, taking particular exception to the anti-crime outfit's unorthodox methods such as beheading and burning of armed robbery suspects.
A week before his death, Igwe led the local leadership of the lawyers' body to issue a seven-day ultimatum to governor Mbadinuju to clear up the eight months arrears of wages owed striking civil servants in the state or resign. The state judiciary had been particularly hit by the prolonged strike, with the activities of courts paralysed.
Suspicions turned on the Anambra government following his death. Residents also compared the manner he was cut down with matchetes to the well-known execution style of the Bakassi Boys using the same tool. But the governor has denied any complicity in the murders.
The murder of Nwankwo has been linked by his associates to a book he was about to publish, detailing how the Enugu State government allegedly embezzled 4.2 billion naira (US $33.33 million) of public funds. The other incidents have also been connected to local political wrangles in the states where they occurred.
According to Catherine Acholonu, a special adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, these assassinations revolve around the ambitions of politicians to emerge victorious in general elections due before the end of the first quarter of 2003.
"As 2003 draws nearer, politicians are becoming restless and reports of violence are on the increase as each aspirant struggles to impose himself on the electorate, " she told a workshop on emerging leaders in the capital, Abuja, last week.
"We are hearing of guns and ammunitions being imported into the country by politicians who use armed robbers and cultists to silence their opponents," she added.
The police authorities have expressed concern about the trend and have stepped up security measures to check it. They have also had to intervene to investigate allegations and counter-allegations of assassination plots being traded between Chibudom Nwuche, deputy speaker of the House of representatives, and Peter Odili, governor of his home state of Rivers, in the south.
Another high profile case brought to the attention of the police was an alleged plot to kill Vice President Atiku Abubakar during a recent visit to Kwara State.
Yet there are people who blame both President Obasanjo's government and, specifically, the police for the recent spate of politically motivated murders recorded across the country. Charles Mafua, chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association in the northern city of Kaduna said the failure of the government to find those who assassinated Bola Ige, former minister of justice and attorney general, in December last year has been an incentive for similar crimes.
"Encouraged by the government's inability to track down the killers of its law officer and other Nigerians, assassinations, political or otherwise, have assumed (the level) of a national pastime, a very attractive and lucrative business for the teeming jobless youths and adults of our country," Mafua told the Thisday daily.
Arthur Nwankwo, the elder brother of the murdered publisher, alleged that two armed policemen witnessed the killing of the younger Nwankwo in front of his residence. According to him they "did nothing to protect him or prevent his assassination and did not make any official report or entry of the incident".
If the government or the police were lethargic about dealing with political assassinations, they appear to have been spurred into action by the Onitsha murder of the Igwe. With strong suspicion falling on the Bakassi Boys, the police used the opportunity to raid all known operational offices of the outfit, arresting hundreds of the operatives and freeing dozens of suspects they held in detention.
Explaining his reason for ordering the crackdown, Obasanjo said security reports had shown that most of the vigilante groups that have sprouted all over the country were being used to perpetrate political violence. He said such a situation could not be tolerated with general elections imminent.
"I am prepared to shed the last drop of my blood to ensure violence-free elections in Nigeria," Obasanjo told reporters.
But already in police files are the cases of many who are victims of political assassination, whose murders are begging to be unsolved.
[ENDS]
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