The Neighbourhood Watch of an Enugu State community is under intense scrutiny following allegations of victimisation levelled against the outfit, a development that has shaken up the entire community.
The vigilance outfit, Aji Community Neighbourhood Watch in Igboeze North Local Government Area has been accused of masterminding the killing of some innocent citizens of the Aji community “purely on the grounds of vendetta and not on grounds of commission of any crime.”
As a result of a petition to the Inspector-General of Police by a section of the community, men from the Force Headquarters Abuja, penultimate week stormed Aji and whisked away the chairman of the Aji Community Neighbourhood Watch and two others believed to have been masterminds of the series of killings that bedevilled the community in the past three months.
In the month of March 2014, the Aji Community witnessed the assassination of two persons named Oforma Itodo four days after he buried his mother and Obinna Onoja one week later.
It was learnt that prior to the death of Itodo, he raised an alarm in a written petition to the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar over a threat to his life in which the I-G, in turn, forwarded the petition to the Enugu State Police Commissioner for prompt investigation.
Narrating to our correspondent on the alleged killings in Aji, a source from the community who pleaded anonymity for security reasons, said Obinna Onoja was gruesomely killed by the Aji Neighbourhood Watch after alleging that he stole some undisclosed items from the compound of a top Enugu State Government official.
The source narrated: “Before the Enugu State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) could arrive in the scene where Obinna Onoja was killed, the Neighbourhood Watch group tortured him severely, using axe and machetes to chop off his toes.”
While confirming that his group arrested Obinna Onoja over some criminal activities in the community for interrogation, the Chairman of Aji Neighbourhood Watch, Mr. Joseph Azegba denied their involvement in his death, adding that they only interrogated him after which he was handed over to the police for further questioning.
“We did not kill Obinna Onoja. We only contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Igbo-Eze North and the SARS and handed him over for further investigation into his case,” he said.
In the case of Oforma Itodo who was also allegedly killed by the same Aji Neighbourhood Watch few days after burying his mother, a family member who narrated the act, said they were about 50 who stormed their compound with axe, guns and machetes and refused to listen to appeals made by those who were still mourning.
He said: “The assailants went straight for Oforma who was carrying his little baby and started assaulting him after which they dragged him out of the compound to an undisclosed location where they butchered him and abandoned his lifeless body.
“We are still in the dark over the barbaric act of the vigilance group. This is why we decided to petition the Inspector-General of Police to help us unravel the reason behind their actions and bring to book the killers of our brother.”
The family source made reference to the earlier petition written by the deceased to the Inspector-General of Police where he raised an alarm that his life was no longer safe in the community.
According to him, the matter was surprisingly charged to court and Oforma, who initially was the complainant, suddenly became the accused.
“What we discovered in the court was a total contrast to what my brother complained in his petition. They completely twisted the matter and surprisingly my brother became the accused but to God be the glory the High Court in Enugu discovered the truth and discharged him.
“But ever since his discharge from court, the same set of people whom we know have the backing of a top government official in the community have been terrorising the entire community hiding under Aji Neighbourhood Watch to carry out their evil acts. They kept on trailing Oforma until they finally made sure they hacked him to death.
“We know the killers of our brother and can identify some of them because they came in the day time. They didn’t wear any mask. You know this is an era of rule of law and democracy; if actually Oforma committed any offence, what any right thinking person should do is to hand him over to the security agency for prosecution and not taking laws into their own hands.
“What we later understood was that there has been a parallel Neighbourhood Watch group in the community and that the killing of Oforma was to permanently seal the confession made by a member of the other group which they claimed Oforma was privy to,” he said.
Women of the community, under the aegis of Aji Women Forum (AWF) with Mrs. Amaka Uramah as leader, had cried out to relevant authorities to disband the Neighbourhood Watch before the community becomes a war zone.
The women leader lamented bitterly on the spate of killings in the community.
She said: “Our sons are being killed under mysterious circumstances. The killings were as a result of the dissolution of the previous vigilance group: we lost three of our young men last year and again two of them have also been killed recently.
“Before this crisis, Aji community has been relatively peaceful to the extent that our traditional ruler, Igwe Simeon Osisi Itodo was honoured as the most security conscious traditional ruler in the entire Southeast geo-political zone.
“As mothers, who carried these children in our wombs for nine months, we are tired of seeing horrible things and we want an end to it now,” she said.
Uramah, a teacher and chairperson of the Catholic Women Organisation in Aji recounted how body parts of their sons were mutilated.
According to her, last year, one Festus Idoko and Ndubuisi were slaughtered and their body parts mutilated while another, Uche Nwaossai’s decomposed body was found in his father’s water tank.
