- Hoodlum barred us from sleeping with other men
Chinaza, a native of Etinasa, Awo Idemmiri in Orsu Local Government Area, Imo State, has lived with alleged notorious bandit Chukwumere a.k.a. Odumodu for five years.
Within that period, she had two kids for the deadly kidnapper alleged to have killed and maimed many residents of Anambra and Imo states where he ran a gang that operates from a camp until he was shot dead by the police during one of his deadly operations last week.
She is also pregnant with her third baby for the deadly kidnapper credited with destroying his victims’ property running into millions of naira.
Chinaza was one in a host of teenage girls Odumodu had held hostage as sex slaves in his camp at Awo Idemmiri before he met his untimely death at the hands of security agents. There were speculations that he abducted about 13 such girls whose age ranged between 15 and 20 years and forced them into marriage.
Rescued from Odumodu’s hideout, the young girls spotted bushy and unkempt hair. Their plum bodies however leaves an observer with the impression that they were well fed and indulged to the point of being spoilt.
Some of the girls paraded by the police in Awka, Anambra State capital, had their babies with them while some others were pregnant at the time Odumodu’s hideout was busted.
Most of the girls claimed that Odumodu forced them into marriage and even entered into blood covenant with them not to sleep with other men, reveal his secret or tell anyone where they were staying.
Like Chinaza, Chinaemerem Obiajunwa, who is nursing an eight-month-old baby boy, claims she was forced into her marriage with the deceased bandit and had lived with him for about seven years. She had dark patches around her eyes, indicating that she was either punched in the face or she has not been applying cream on her body for a long time.
With her baby lying playfully beside her on the bare floor, Chinaemerem was asked why she decided to live with a known killer for so many years but she said she did not do so out of her own free will.
She said: “It was not that I chose to live with him; he forced me to do so.
“And it was not that my parents did not know about it, but they feared that if they talked he would come to the village and kill them.”
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Chinaemerem reiterated the fact that Odumodu entered into a blood covenant with her and the other girls in his harem, raising her hand to show a ritual that was performed with her finger.
“He packed us into one place and told his men to surround us. Then he entered into a blood covenant with us, saying that if we we slept with any man or tell anyone about him, we would die.
“He even said that if I told my brother Agu, who works with Ebubeagu (Southeast securityoutfit), I would die.”
Precious Ojioru, a native of Umumma, Oru East Local Government Area, said she was abducted by Odumodu a few weeks ago at a market where she had gone to buy some foodstuffs.
The light-complexioned girl, who spoke in Pidgin English, said: “He met me at the market where I had gone to buy something and asked me to come.
“He asked where I came from and I said Umumma. He said, ‘oh so the people from there told you to come check on me’, and I said no. He took me to one place and kept me there.”
Another light-complexioned girl, who also attested to Odumodu’s notoriety, said she was impregnated by him, having dated him for eight months.
She too said her parents were aware that she was staying with the criminal but were helpless because if they dared ask any question, Odumodu would come to the village and kill them.
Some residents confirmed that they were aware that some criminals were operating in the area but could not talk because the criminals had informants among the villagers.
A pharmacist, who claimed that his house was burnt to ashes a few months ago, declined comment on the issue because of the notorious activities of the gangsters.
“They burnt my house, my hospital, stole all my property including iron sheets, doors and windows,” he said.
Another resident, John Agu (not his real name), said: “Odumodu who was killed last week had always claimed he was only in the bush checkmating the Fulanis, but he was busy kidnapping little girls who he kept hostage in his house and was using them as sex slaves. Nobody dares say anything because the boys are deadly.”
Agu disclosed that most of the residents were aware of his operations but could do little or nothing about it because the police were nowhere near them.
“We don’t see the police personnel in the area except a few times we see military patrol. But they don’t stay there. As soon as they leave, the boys return to the area to continue their business.”
He said that many people, including traditional rulers and chiefs, had deserted their homes for a safe environment.
“These bandits are even burning people’s businesses at the slightest provocation,” he said.
Another resident, who identified himself simply as Kelechi, urged the federal and state governments to do something urgently about the activities of the criminals in the villages. “We are helpless and need the intervention of the government both at federal and state levels to put an end to this incessant attacks on our homes and kidnapping of our daughters.
“Definitely, these criminals cannot say they are protecting us from invaders. They are the ones invading our homes and families,” he said.
A traditional ruler who pleaded anonymity said: “The bandits are not holding only the girls, hostage, they are equally holding their parents hostage.
“And you don’t blame the parents because they are afraid to inform the police about the activities of the criminals due to lack of trust.
“The people are living in fear and they don’t know who to believe will not expose them to the criminals.”
He noted that the criminals had burnt several houses in the area, particularly those they perceive to belong to their enemies.
The hoodlums are in the habit of first instilling fear in the residents by burning several homes belonging to government officials including lawmakers. At one time, they were even beheading people.
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A member of the House of Assembly representing Orsu state constituency, Hon. Ekene Nnodumele, was a victim. In a chat with our correspondent, Nnodumele said that bandits are not domiciled in Orsu Local Government Area only; they are in almost all the local government areas in the state.
Talking about the girls rescued from the den of Odumodu, he said that those who rescued them should know exactly what to do with them.
He said: “Odumodu is already killed. I can’t talk about a dead man or how to resurrect him. So, talking about him is very retrogressive. The issue is what do we do to make progress?”
He said that the way to tackle the issue of crime and criminality is to ensure that the police or security operatives make their phone numbers available to community leaders and community chiefs and traditional rulers to assist them in reporting every crime around their communities and to report people or criminals on the police wanted list.
“The police will also do well to mention those that they are looking for so that when we see them, we report to them.
“Because if somebody is on the wanted list and people don’t know that they are wanted, it may be very difficult to aid the police to apprehend them.
“The indigenes will help the police, but the police should make their numbers available. You can’t call a man you don’t know how to reach.
“You can’t report to them in the air; you do so when their numbers are given through the traditional rulers and town union presidents-general.
On the effort of the state House of Assembly in terms of security, he said: “I don’t know what the members are doing collectively. But as individuals, they are trying to protect their different constituencies in their own ways.
“A man who is not in charge of security may not tell you what he is doing to curb insecurity in his area.
“Lawmakers are not the executives. We don’t have those implementing factors or executive powers to issue orders. “All we can do is to make motions and motions are persuasive, urging the governor and security.
“We cannot order them as members; we can only urge them.
“But the truth is that everybody should be part of the security situation to assist the police, because these criminals buy food somewhere, they collect money somewhere.
“Those girls gave birth in hospitals. Doctors are aiding them. Some of the criminals have bullet wounds and doctors treat them. Some go to bone mending homes to treat their broken legs and arms, and some of them carry their guns to these places and people see them.”
Some people, particularly the security agents, claim that Odumodu and his gang belong to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militia. But the IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, dismissed the claim, saying that it was a case of giving the dog a bad name in order to hang it.
The police in Imo State, through its Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, agreed that fear is responsible for people’s unwillingness to report the criminals and crimes committed in their communities.
Okoye, however, disagreed with the suggestion made by the lawmaker that the police should make their numbers avaliable, saying that the authorities had always reached out to the community, urging them to contact the police to report any crime-related operation going on in their areas.
He said: “I had gone to radio broadcasting stations to make announcements and offer contact to the public on how to reach the police control room, and even gave out emergency numbers they can call.
“We also have patrol teams and police stations in these troubled areas.
“So, I think the issue is that the girls have sympathy for Odumodu and his criminal gang probably because he was their husband
“But we are going to investigate the allegation of kidnap raised by the young girls. But I think they have sympathy for him probably because of what they got from him or because he was their husband.”