The Chidi Odinkalu-led panel probing politically-motivated killings in Rivers State is on recess. Testimonies already given to it drip with sorrow, tears and blood, writes PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA
The tales they told were of sorrow and blood. They were of killings, permanent disabilities and lives fractured forever. Wives spoke of husbands wasted in their primes. Fathers and mothers spoke of sons taken away for no just cause. A witness even recounted how a father, his three children and others were mauled down in one day. All in cold blood.
The Adubes and two others were killed in the same compound. The father, his two sons and a daughter were killed.
When the River State Commission of Inquiry probing politically-motivated killings heard the case of the Adubes, it was like nothing could be worse, but more heart-rending tales have followed. The testimonies have been heart-broken since the commission began its hearing, despite the attempt to stop it.
The Prof Chidi Odinkalu-led commission, instituted by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, is investigating killings, damage to properties and grievous bodily harms before and during the presidential and governorship elections.
Speaking at the commission’s inaugural sitting on May 4, Patience Adube narrated how her husband, Christopher, was killed at home in Obrikom, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.
The late Adube was Caretaker Chairman of the local government. She said aside the children killed alongside their father, his son-in-law, Ikechukwu, and one of his security men were also murdered.
In her words: “I want them to find those people that killed my husband. Fight those people that sent them because many of them threatened my husband that they will kill him. And they have killed my husband, let them fight them.
“Let them help us, because me and my mates and our family are helpless, let government help us and find them. Because they said they will take power by force and they have already done that by killing my husband and our children.”
Another of the late Adube’s wives and mother of the three slain children, Precious Adube, cried that all her children are dead.
The eldest of the three, Joy was 25. John was 22 and Lucky just completed secondary school.
“I have nothing left. All my children are dead… I ran back to the house and saw everybody dead.”
A relative of the late Adube’s in-law, Ikechukwu who was also killed that day, Anthony Ogarabe, said: “I was in our compound until about 7.30 p.m. when I left the house. I was told that his (Ikechukwu’s) friend, Silver, asked him out to Chief Adube’s house.
“From where I had gone to, I heard gunshot which made me run back to our house. When I arrived home, I then called my brother to know his whereabouts but received no response from his phone.
“His friend Silver then called me back to say that Adube and my brother Iyke were shot dead a while ago. I then ran to Adube’s house and I met him in a bath in the toilet with his son, dead. My brother Iyke and Joy Adube also lay down dead close to the toilet.
“I shouted and cried but later organised some boys who brought them out. Someone then advised me to boil water to clean their bodies. I used heater to heat water, took them to the backyard. We used knife to tear off the cloth on their bodies because the blood was thickly gummed to them. We later took them to the mortuary.”
Chijioke Ogbuagu, a resident of Omoku in ONELGA, who also testified on the killing of the Adubes and others, said the killing took place on April 3 (Good Friday).
“The killing started at Obrigom at late Chief C.N Adube’s house, my political mentor. They finished from there and went to the APC office at Obrigom where they killed a boy. From there they moved to my community.
“People saw them. It was not a hidden something. In Obrigom, they killed seven persons. In Chief Adube’s house, they killed six – Adube, three of his children, his security person…
“Two were killed in my premises. The one that was burnt to ashes, the bone has been gathered and buried. The Sampson Ezekiel was buried too, his body was taken to Nassarawa State because he’s from there.
As I talk to you, my supporters are no longer living in their homes. All of them have fled because the lives of APC members are not safe.
“This operation that took place on the 3rd lasted for over three hours. In my house they said why they were not able to save anything was because the people set the house on fire and supervised the burning.
“The Commission should help us to ensure that the people who committed this violence would not go unpunished. ONELGA used to be a very sweet place that we enjoyed 24 hour free light from Agip facility.”
More sad tales
From Port Harcourt to Eleme and other parts of the state, the commission has heard testimonies and inspected scenes of violence.
If you have a heart made of steel, chances are it would have melted on hearing the testimonies of Justice Orikwowu, 19, and his mother, Ruth. Both testified about the killing of their father and husband, Clever. The deceased’s eldest son had just finished writing WAEC, and that all her children, except the baby, are in school.
Orikwowu said he was at home when his father was killed, adding that he saw his body at the police station.
Mrs. Orikwowu, the widow, a house wife, said she collapsed when the news of her husband’s death was relayed to her.
She said: “That fateful day, as APC youth leader, he was a ward collation agent of the party. He went for the election. We are not on the same polling unit.
“In my own unit, I went to ease myself, when I came back, they said some people came in military fatigue and told people to lie down. They came and carried my husband.
“Please look at me, seven children without a father. I am 41 years old, without anything. My husband served Rivers State government very well. So I’m pleading with this honourable court to assist. The house he was building he couldn’t finish. We live in an uncompleted building.
“People should come to our aid. We have nowhere else to go, that’s why I returned to the house. And if I take the children out of that place, they cannot go to school again. We need safety from the government. If my husband is being killed by unknown people, who am I and my children?”
The deceased’s brother also testified about how he spoke with his brother three times in the morning before he was killed on April 11.
He said his late brother, Clever who was 43, was an APC leader in ONELGA.
“What we gathered that armed men came and laid down everybody.”
Clever’s remains are still at the mortuary. He is survived by his wife and their seven children. The eldest child is 19 and the youngest is 11 months.
Also left to cater for her children is Mrs. Caleb-Ahmed, a native of Emoh in Abua/Odual Local Government. Her husband left behind four children – 11, 8, 4, and 2 year olds – who are all in school.
“I’m afraid for my life because what I see (sic) that day was terrible. I don’t recognise their faces but they were not wearing masks. They were just wearing face caps.”
Mrs Caleb-Ahmed, who is an official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, said her husband was shot by unknown gunmen three weeks before the presidential election.
“I was pleading with the people, that I don’t want to be a young widow,” Mrs. Caleb-Ahmed told a Commission of Inquiry probing politically-motivated killings and destruction of properties in the state.
“They said my husband is an APC (All Progressives Congress) member. I said ‘please please, he will not do again.’ Before I can finish, they have shot him down in the room. They finished and ran away. I call the police. He died on the way to the hospital. He was buried the next day.
“I’m afraid for my life because what I see that day was terrible. I don’t recognise their faces but they were not wearing masks. They were just wearing face caps.
“One spoke Abua language. But the ones that came inside spoke English, that ‘I think you are APC member.’ I was shouting but everybody had run away.”
The testimony of Isaac Orikwowu, who was accompanied by a woman nursing a baby whose husband was killed during the election, was also touching.
Orukwowu said petitioned the police on behalf of the widow, who was married to his younger brother.
“When this issue happened, my elder brother informed me. I was in Port Harcourt. They told me he was killed on election ground when he went for accreditation.
“They said gun men went there, picked him out and shot him at a community primary school, Ward 5, in ONELGA. I was not there.”
Ijeoma Mbamalu, 21, who appeared before the panel bearing an 11-month-old baby, said her husband, 27, was killed at Oprikom. She said her mother is dead and her father is “very old.” She broke down and wept.
“I ask for you people’s help. That very day he wanted to go market before those boys came. The N100,000, he left, they took it away. As I told you, I don’t have anything I’m doing. And my husband left me with a baby.
“They took my baby that very night and throw him on the bed and told me to lie down. They asked my husband to take them where the landlord lives and all the APC members in the compound. My husband said he doesn’t know the landlord and he pays his rent through his lawyer. At this point they got angry and took my baby from me and threw him on the floor and told me to lie down. They took my husband outside and shot him three times.
“They asked the party we belong and my husband said we don’t belong to any party. They started searching the house maybe to look for any APC evidence. It was then they saw the money my husband wanted to take to market. This year will make it four years we have been living in Oprikom. But we married in September 2013.”
Innocent Ogbuehi, who lives in Emohua Local Government, said his 59-year-old brother, an APC member, was killed on election day. According to him, he was shot while he was shaving in front of his house on the day of the governorship election.
He said his late brother was married with five children.
He said he reported to the police and an Inspector was sent to the crime scene and was later told to handover the matter and all the evidence to the State CID “and since then we have not heard anything from them.”
Ogbuehi said he was shouldering the responsibility of taking care of his brother’s widow and children.
“On the 8th of April, he (Mr. Friday) came out to make a comment that the three boys who will killed my brother are in his phone.”
Joe Poroma, the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation in Rivers State, testified about a killing in his house. He tendered photographs, including that of a man identified as Lekia who was shot in the neck in his home,
“The bullet went through his neck and shattered the window. It’s unfortunate that on the day that this incident took place, it was precisely by 6p.m. I’m the leader of the APC in my ward. I want a proper investigation because that has not been done till now.”
He said the gunmen also shot at his Hilux van and generator in his home and damaged them.
“Over 22 houses in the community were destroyed on that same day. They went through houses belonging to APC members, shatter your window, break your door.
“When the police came to arrest them, the trigger man was arrested, and unfortunately they outnumbered the police and the police abandoned them even the ones they handcuffed and ran away. They mobilised in so many numbers and the police were afraid and ran away.”
HE named those he suspected: Monday Ngbor (the financier), Johnny Ngbor, Mwine Sunday (the trigger man).
Poroma, who said he was living abroad and only returned to Nigeria when Amaechi became governor, added: “I went to the king, we met with the DPO and a joint meeting was called between the APC and PDP leadership and we were made to sign a peace accord to be responsible for any violence caused by any of our groups.
“Not quite three days afterwards, there were gun shots all over the community. Unfortunately, it’s a community where young boys carry guns.”
Destruction galore
It was not all tales of killings. There were those of destruction to men and property.
Thankgod Igwe may not see again. He told the commission how it all happened.
Igwe, 38, said: “On that very day, I discovered there is no result sheet when we started accrediting. As an agent, I have to ask about the result sheet, if there is no result sheet, we don’t know how this election will go. There was a lot of argument between the PDP people and I.
“We were there exchanging words. They said election must hold. There was a fight. They beat me up and blind my eyes. As you can see, my eyes are blind.
“There was no movement that day. Everybody started running. One of my brothers ran to their house, brought a bike and carry me to a clinic. The clinic rejected me and directed me to one of the clinics at Elelenwa. They rejected me again. They now took me BMH. They kept me there 3-4 days before they moved me to surgery department.
“They said because my bp was high, they cannot take me to the theatre. After three days, they controlled my bp and took me to the theatre.”
Promise Amadi walked up to the witness area supported by clutches. The clutches, according to him, were necessitated by violence visited on him in Elioparamuo in Obiakpor Local Government Area.
Amadi, a welder, said: “I saw PDP boys shooting, so I turned and they said ‘Yellow man, you again!’ They shot me and I ran to the backyard where I jumped the fence and fractured my leg. I don’t know any of them but they are PDP boys because some of them were telling me to remove that canopy. I’ve spent up to 500 to 600,000 because after they removed the bullet, they still cannot set the leg well. I’ve sent messages to my party (APC) but no one has come for me.”
Uzodinma Silas, a resident of Andoni and All Progressives Congress (APC) agent, tendered photographs of injuries he sustained during the governorship election.
His words: “I want the Commission to bring those who inflicted the injuries on me to book. I also want the Commission to liaise with the government to compensate me. I reported to the police but the policeman I saw on the counter was on mufti. He asked me to narrate what happened and I did. Then he told me to pay N30,000 for them to follow up the case. So I left.
“Some boys came in that morning and were chanting ‘No PDP, no election. No Nyesom Wike, no election.’ Everybody ran away including the people that wanted to vote. As I speak to you, I’m no longer receiving treatment but I’m still feeling pains because I was hit on the chest. A friend advised me to go for x-ray but I don’t have money.”
Felix Ejechi, a resident of Omoku in ONELGA, said APC offices in the local governments were attacked on January 29, April 12, and April 13.
He joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 and served two tenures as Councillor. In 2008, he was elected Chairman of ONELGA, and was re-elected again before the APC/PDP split.
“We were going to host the APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, for a rally in ONELGA. In the early hour of 29th, that was when they did all these damages. For three hours (between midnight and 3 a.m.) they were moving all round and police were there.
“I confronted the DPO on why they would allow those boys three hours to be destroying things and he told me the fire was too much and he had to take cover,” said Ejechi who accused a man he identified as Uche Jeremiah of spearheading the April 13th attack.
He continued: “The way forward is simple. All these perpetrators of violence must be brought to book. The police should no longer side one side. They refuse to do their work. I was told the DPO said he was posted there to work for PDP,” adding that he left ONELGA since January.
Christian Alali, who lives in ONELGA, said the house he inherited from his father was destroyed and that he would need N5 million to refurbish it. He later re-adjusted the figure to N20 million, but the commission told him the amount was outrageous to fix a room.
He said the building, which was burnt by hoodlums, was completed in 2000 and it housed 18 people. The house is now empty.
David Akio, from Abua/Oduah Local Government Area, told the commission that his Mercedes car was destroyed by hoodlums and he was beaten up and chased out of his home by the thugs led by a Special Assistant to the Rivers State governor-elect, Nyesom Wike.
His words: “On that 27th of March, I was attacked in my father’s compound. I don’t know how my opponents monitored me and know I was in the community. I went into hiding and was smuggled out of the community on the 29th.”
44-year-old Akio said he returned to the community on the night before April 11 because he was a contestant for the House of Assembly election.
“After the 28th, most of the people that were chased out of the community returned. I was communicating with them and they said it’s like things have cooled down.”
He said there was a second attack on the night he returned and he went to hide in the bush until the police rescued him.
He said he joined PDP in 1998 and served as a Councillor under the party.
For Victor Amadi, a member representing Etche Constituency 1 at the Rivers State House of Assembly, it was a tale of arson. He said on the night of March 20, his brother told him that over 40 hoodlums came in a bus to burn his uncle’s and father’s houses.
“I didn’t want to look at it as a political issue, I want to see it as a criminal issue. “It’s a build up issue. On 20th December, on my way to the village for a wedding, some of supporters came to inform me that some PDP thugs were brandishing guns and shooting. One of them actually shot himself… “On 20th of March, my father’s house was burnt down.”
Amadi said: “On April 1st, a team the IG sent from Abuja came and took my statement. The next morning, they were on their way to make arrests when the CP called them to abort the mission. The CP told them arrests would mean they are taking sides in a political situation. So they aborted the mission and promised to come back after the election.”
He added that when the hoodlums were burning his father’s house, the police prevented the village vigilante group from curtailing them.
“They are PDP thugs because it was the same persons who came to tear my posters. The vigilante boys identified some of them. The boys mobilised from the house of one Ephraim Nwuzi, a known PDP member.
“I was reliably told that the CP signed a detention warrant against me, which I immediately informed the governor. The governor quickly called the CP and he denied issuing any detention order and promised to get back to him. He never did.”
Even a policeman
The victims are not only politicians. A policeman also came to recount an ugly ordeal. Johnson Onunwa, a police inspector who works in Benin, the Edo State capital, also appeared before the commission. His house was burnt.
His words: “My elder brother called me at about 8.45 pm and I was told that my house is burnt, including his and my senior sister.
“I asked what happened, they said it’s because of this PDP-APC thing. I said I’m not a politician so why will they burn my house.
“When I got home, I ask them for the police station where the case was reported. They said the elders in the community had intervened. And they said the case had been reported to the state CID.”
A Delta State indigene who resides in Rivers, George Oreremie, 69, told the commission of an alleged assault against him on January 10. According to him, he and some 15 others were having a meeting when they were attacked.
“As soon as they came in, they started shouting ‘We don’t need APC in this Rumueme community. All of you here are APC and you will all die today.’ The next thing they started cutting us with cutlasses and weapons. They used cutlass on me and cut my head. I’ve never seen them and I don’t know them. I’m not from the community so I don’t know anyone…”I don’t know any of them (the attackers). It was my first time of going to that kind of meeting.”
He removed his hat to reveal the machete cut on his head, adding that he was hospitalised for ten days and had been going for medical check-up ever since.
“I used to be a Base Engineer until my company in Calabar shut down, before I came back to Port Harcourt. Before the injury, I do repairs for companies when they need me,” Oreremie said.
Blessing Nwuchegbuo, a known campaigner for the APC, said of the attempt on his life: “Before the burning of my house, I received threats from PDP members. I’m known as a grassroots politician, a very strong one for that matter.
“PDP people said to me one on one, not even on phone, ‘are you sure you will come to this community on that election. Three days after the mobilisation, I was attacked. I had to leave my car and ran into the bush. It was after three days that I went to retrieve the car.
“I reported the threats to the police and they said it’s a normal thing in political setting. After my attack, I equally reported to the police but the man didn’t accept to follow me to the village.”?
Behind camera /legal ‘tussle’
There were also those too afraid to give testimonies in the presence of reporters. So, the commission spent some time listening to testimonies ‘in-camera’ from witnesses on allegations of assault and kidnapping. For the safety of the witnesses, secrecy was utmost.
Also of note is the fact that the PDP sees the commission as illegal. Its lawyer, Emmanuel Aguma, appeared before the commission arguing that there was a court order restraining the proceedings.
“I wouldn’t want to be a part of a process that does not obey the rule of law, so I’m bringing attention to this. There’s an order temporarily restraining proceedings here till a fixed date,” said the lawyer.
Odinkalu said the commission had not been served the court’s decision.
“We are accepting because you are an officer of the law. We’ve not been served on us. But we are accepting from you.
“We are seeing this for the first time. Do you want a brief on this and we take an argument on this on Wednesday. So serious we need to place everyone on record.”
But Aguma asked: “How do I participate in a proceeding where I have questioned its legality? When I’m questioning the competence of the Commission to proceed?”
Odinkalu said: “The commission does not confer lawfulness where lawfulness does not exist. What I suggest is, we are seeing this for the first time. We will hear arguments about this on Wednesday and listen to judicial authorities. If on Wednesday we cannot continue, it means that all the records will be expunged.”
But the PDP lawyer stood his ground and asked to be excused from the proceedings.
“I heard gunshots which made me run back to our house. When I arrived home, I then called my brother to know his whereabouts but received no response from his phone. His friend Silver then called me back to say that Adube and my brother Iyke were shot dead a while ago. I then ran to Adube’s house and I met him in a bath in the toilet with his son, dead. My brother Iyke and Joy Adube also lay down dead close to the toilet”
