Albert NgeneHon. Okey Okoye and Mr. Cyril Chiegboka, his aide, set out from Awka in his Sienna minivan in the evening of May 15, 2022. They were headed for an undisclosed location and their mission was unknown, but both men never completed that commute. They were waylaid somewhere on Aguluzigbo Road in Anaocha LGA and abducted. His car was recovered at that spot and that was the last time anyone ever saw them alive.
Their abductors never sent out any ransom notes or demands to persons on their phone index as kidnappers in Nigeria are wont to do.
Subsequently, the Anambra State Police Command swung into action, as our law enforcement are wont to swing into action for the press. Governor Soludo announced a hefty reward for any information that could lead to the rescue of Hon. Okoye, a serving member of the Anambra State Assembly representing Aguata 11 constituency, and Chiegboka. Soludo and Hon. Okoye both hail from Isuofia town.
There were no takers for the governor’s reward and the swinging trail followed by the police turned cold. So there wasn’t going to be a negotiated resolution of the hostage situation or any dramatic hostage rescue operation. A week after their abduction the decapitated head of Hon. Okoye was found by passersby at Chisco Park in Amichi, Nnewi. His headless torso was discovered somewhere on Ideani Road, Nnobi, Idemili South LGA. A note was found on his torso.
Cyril Chiegboka met a similar and gruesome fate, and desecration.
These are the facts gleaned from news reports. But they don’t stand alone. They have a reach that goes back to March 17, 2022, when Prof. Chukwuma Soludo was sworn in. In his inaugural address Soludo mentioned in great detail his lofty agenda to make Anambra “a livable and prosperous megacity” as articulated in the Anambra Vision 2070 document and his People’s Manifesto.
He was quick to appreciate that universal security was the foundational framework upon which any prosperity could be built. He offered a peace pipe to the numerous non-state actors who had succeeded in creating a siege mentality in Anambra:
Criminality cannot be sugarcoated. This must stop. All the stakeholders must now review both the narrative and the action plan. For starters, I endorse the recent statement (March 7, 2022) by the Joint Body of South East Council of Traditional Rulers and Bishops/Archbishops on Peace and Conflict Resolution, requesting for a tripartite discussion between them, The Presidency, and South East governors to deal with the conflicts in the South East especially in relation to Nnamdi Kanu and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Finally, Soludo talked about the self-harm of sit-at-home Mondays and he put a lost revenue figure of 19.6 billion Naira on it. He pointed out that our loss was an opportunity cost for Anambra and a gain for Delta State’s hospitality and other businesses.
I was in complete agreement with the governor of my state. Insecurity reduces the quality of life for everyone. The recent assassination attempt on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah in Enugwu-Ukwu, Njikoka LGA, comes to mind. Senator Ubah survived, thanks to his bulletproof jeep. But his life came at the cost of the lives of five of his police escort. So, for those who can afford it, ‘What is the fun of travelling in an armored convoy in your homestead as if you are in Bakhmut City, Ukraine?’
In an article published earlier this year I sounded hopeful that as Soludo comes on board he would help to restore the purpose of the SE Governors’ Forum – which has not been convened since Mr. Peter Obi left the Awka State House – and thereby bring about an integrated approach to development and security. I had written:
Therefore, let us concentrate on the core vocation of Ndigbo and embark on a forward mission to create a manufacturing hub in the homeland to service the West African and African market. Just to be clear Ndigbo has a formidable competitor in the Chinese.
It’s my hope that the South East governors would take an integrated approach to development in order to take advantage of economies of scale. They could generate integrated retail development plans with the mission to lay an infrastructural framework to drive down cost centres in Alaigbo for businesses. Cheap manufacturing costs produce competitively-priced goods. – Ndigbo: The World is Your Oyster If You Make Stuff (Prime Business Africa)
However, the promise of Soludo’s inaugural address appears to have floundered on mixed messaging. There has been a dichotomy of intent and action in spite of what he thinks are his best efforts. He visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leader, in detention. Afterwards, Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesman, told reporters that his group were looking forward to working with the governor to restore peace in our land and lift the sit-at-home order.
While I support this initiative with reservations, I have no philosophical or emotional meeting of minds with either Nnamdi Kanu; nor with any of the other non-state actors – Chinasa Nworu (ESN) and Simon Ekpa (IPOB-in-Exile). I don’t share in their violent methods and I don’t buy into their self-ordained messianic missions which run contrary to mine. My long-suffering people deserve prosperity and this can only be achieved in a peaceful homeland.
“Our government is determined to urgently restore peace and security in Anambra … ”, Soludo had also said on his inauguration (the accent on ‘urgently’ is mine). In the end it became apparent that Soludo would choose expediency and govern by decree. That tragic turn was borne out as the news headlines on the morning of March 28, 2022, read:
“Soludo Dares Enforcers of Sit-at-Home!”
The governor abrogated all illegal orders and ‘directed all markets, schools, banks, and motor parks in the state to resume normal activities with effect from Monday, April 4, 2022.’ – The Guardian March 28, 2022.
The response of the non-state actors was an escalation of violence. Sahara Reporters reported that on April 5, 2022, two men who attended a vigil service in defiance of the sit-at-home order – per Soludo’s advice – were killed in Ekwulobia, Aguata LGA.
Anambra State has qualitatively become more insecure.
That brings me back to the abduction, murder, and desecration of Hon. Okey Okoye and Cyril Chiegboka. Their deaths on the basis of the news reports points us in the direction of an assassination. While we await the police report it is pertinent to ask:
Were their deaths connected to the larger picture of the three-way struggle between the new governor’s executive office, the non-state actors, and the parallel militias of the SE governors which swings the sword of Damocles over the region – Ebubeagu (Abakaliki) and Ebubeagu (Owerri)?
What was the import of the handwritten note found on the headless torso of Hon. Okoye which was an ultimatum to the Nigerian Army ‘to withdraw all soldiers in Biafra land’?
Was Hon. Okoye a martyr? Was he on official assignment? Was he sent on a troubleshooting Mission Impossible without the full backing of the office and prestige of the governor or the state assembly? Did he enter a lion’s den without police protection and cover?
These questions become even more poignant against the backdrop of Governor Soludo’s statements after the fact:
- Soludo suggested that the gang that abducted Hon. Okoye may have been the same one that attacked him in Isuofia last year. He escaped that attack at the cost of the lives of three policemen
- At the funeral of Hon. Okoye, the governor informed the congregation that ‘eight persons had been arrested’ in connection with their deaths
- At that funeral Soludo also said:
“The gunmen came with their strange religion, but there is no relationship between light and darkness. Their gods drink blood, but ours doesn’t. That’s why we need to fight them together.”
What exactly did Soludo mean by the comments he made in the wake of this dastardly bereavement? Do we have a terror group dedicated to the killing policemen attached to motorized armored convoys of the high and mighty? Were they the ones that also attacked Senator Ubah, (and Apostle Johnson Suleman in Auchi, Edo State)? Those abortive assassinations also involved the loss of lives of policemen. Has the Anambra police command concluded their investigation? Was the attack on Hon. Okoye and Chiegboka the work of secret cults per Soludo’s reference to ‘blood drinking gods’?
An unkind person could look at those utterances and deem them to be obfuscatory or misleading. But I am not an unkind man. However, I disregard power for its own sake – the way Nigerian politicians are wont to wield it. Rather I choose to see the dignity of each citizen. ‘Okey di OK’ – as friends called him – was a young man with an otherwise bright future ahead of him. He didn’t deserve to die without cause. Nor did Cyril. Nor any young person for that matter. The young are the salt of the earth and we must nurture them.
They are our world.
But I am without doubt guilty of expecting too much from Soludo. Prosperity can only be built on the rock of stability. Security in Anambra requires the due diligence of a creative and patient kind. The consultations with the Joint Body of SE Council could have been deepened and made routine: the initiatives generated can then be indigenized and implemented one sure step at a time.
As the saying goes – “All crime is local!”
The focus group participation with the other governors could have been initiated and infused with a fresh perspective and a new urgency. Each governor have their own agenda and motive, but perhaps, as a body, they may not understand the principle of a shared security and a shared prosperity: A peer leader is needed here. I dare say that aspects of Soludo’s inauguration address could be a working document for a conference of SE governors.
Communication with the Minister of Justice, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, was critical to impress upon him the imperative of obedience of court orders in a constitutional democracy. That helps to give all federating nationalities a sense of belonging and preempt a breakdown of law and order.
Was there anything Soludo could lose by rubbing minds together with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo? The two professors have worked together in one economic or development council or the other. I wager that it was worth his while.
That was why the contact with Mazi Nnamdi Kalu and other centres of non-state violent agitation could have come last so that Soludo could use some acquired leverage.
It may look difficult but crises intervention has been tried and tested in Anambra state in the past. In fact, the prevailing security across the homeland for the gubernatorial election that brought Prof. Chukwuma Soludo to power was secured by negotiation and reasoning. It turned on the key question –
“Ndi Anambra: Do you want the Uba brothers in charge of our state house and treasury?”
The answer was: “Whosai!” (Pidgin for, Hell no!) and the homeland was pacified for the election that was held on November 6, 2021.
Justice for both young men will not bring peace to Anambra State, but it will take us back to the steps we had skipped in our expedient search for peace. The least Governor Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo could do is to empanel a judicial inquiry into the death of Hon. Okey Okoye – a serving member of Anambra State Assembly – and his friend Mr. Cyril Chiegboka.
Then, perhaps in the future, we could look back and say Okey died for a cause.
Ngene lives in Atlanta
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