Anambra Lawmaker Petitions Soludo Over Alleged Intimidation, Abuse of Office by Security Aides, Demands For Obedience to Court Order

By Our Reporter

The Member representing Oyi Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Innocent Ojike has petitioned Governor Chukwuma Soludo over alleged intimidation, abuse of power, and unlawful interference in a land dispute by two of the governor’s security aides.

In a formal complaint addressed to the governor, Ojike accused Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Ben Chiobi (rtd.), the Special Adviser on Security, and Hon. Mazi Chukwuma Okparaezechukwu, the Senior Special Assistant on Security, of using their offices to unlawfully harass and oppress the people of Odumodu Umunya in a lingering land dispute with Ifite Nteje.

According to the lawmaker, Chiobi and Okparaezechukwu have allegedly deployed security operatives, including the Civil Defense, State Vigilante, and Anti-Tout Task Force, to suppress and intimidate the people of Odumodu Umunya, despite a subsisting court order restraining the defendants in the dispute.

Ojike detailed that the land dispute between Odumodu Umunya and Ifite Nteje dates back to 2009, when his constituents sued the people of Ifite Nteje for trespass before the Otuocha High Court. Although the court ruled partially in favour of the Odumodu community, they proceeded to the Court of Appeal, Enugu (now Awka), under Appeal No. CA/AW/446/2013, seeking a full determination of their claims.

Pending the final outcome of the appeal, Justice Anulude, in January 2014, granted an injunction restraining Ifite Nteje and their representatives from entering the disputed land. Despite this, Ojike alleges that in 2015, Ifite Nteje, in defiance of the injunction, sold part of the land to Ignatius Ejike and Nnaemeka Onwuzulike, who attempted to construct a market on the property.

Ojike asserts that AVM Chiobi and Okparaezechukwu’s involvement in the matter has escalated tensions, as the duo have allegedly deployed state security forces to enforce an illegal takeover of the land, disregarding the ongoing court proceedings.

“Since their assumption into office, they have used the apparatus of the state government to criminally and violently suppress our people. They have been using Civil Defense, State Vigilante, Anti-Tout Task Force, and red-eyed thugs to intimidate, harass, torment, and threaten our people in a very lawless manner to ensure that the market project is executed, even in contravention of a lawful court order,” Ojike alleged in the petition.

The lawmaker further claimed that Ejike and Onwuzulike now boast openly of having “bought” Chiobi and Okparaezechukwu, whom they allege are providing them with “total support, loyalty, and protection” in the matter.

Ojike described the alleged actions of the security aides as a “gross abuse of power and an attack on the rule of law,” adding that the situation has worsened to the point where security forces are now storming private properties of Odumodu residents, destroying fences, farms, and structures under the guise of enforcing the market project.

“Last week, Mazi Chukwuma, in company of combined personnel of the Civil Defense, State Vigilante, Anti-Tout Task Force, and armed thugs, ordered a bulldozer to destroy many of our people’s block wall fences and farms,” Ojike alleged.

The lawmaker has therefore urged Governor Soludo to “restrain the Almighty Messrs Chiobi and Okparaezechukwu” before the situation spirals into a full-blown crisis, warning that their alleged actions threaten to ignite a breakdown of law and order in the state.

Ojike concluded by appealing for the governor’s urgent intervention to “restore the rule of law” and prevent further injustices against his constituents.

The state government and the accused security aides are yet to publicly respond to the allegations at the time of filing this report.