Traditional ruler recounts ordeal after abduction...... says he knew those behind it

By Emeka Ibemere

On the 20th of July 2014, gunmen came in the late night to the palace of Professor and traditional ruler in Agidiahe Quarters, HH Nwajei Chuks Nwajei, Agumba and Akaji Obi of Ogwashi-Ukwu, South-South Nigeria. The family had gone to sleep and the heavy bang on the doors was what woke his wife up and he was made to understand that there was danger.

As he woke up, he tried to open the door which had already damaged by the ‘visiting troops’. In a state of confusion, he tried to enquire who the visitors were but there was no definite answer from them, only ‘shouts of open this door or we will blow it down’. Because the visitors had already off their generator, everywhere was engulfed in darkness and there was no where he could see the faces of the visitors.

Agumba said he summoned courage to open the door and when the door was opened with the help of the gunmen, he was dragged out of the house and then, slaps, hitting and butting followed.

“Around 11.30pm, I was already sleeping after having series of communal meetings; I slept earlier and at about 11. 30 my wife woke me up and we thought armed robbers invaded our house with a loud bang and they were saying if you don’t open the door, we will blow of the house down”, Agumba Stated.

 “I was on my pant and rushed out of my own palace, which is my ogwa. It was surrounded, but I was seeing torch light everywhere and they kept on banging the door. Luckily, the door was a bullet-proof door; I came out and asked them who they were”.

That was the horrifying story told to our correspondent by the traditional ruler. His ordeal was in response to the abduction story making rounds in Delta State of an arrest of a traditional ruler.

“And they said they were the army.  I was kind of puzzled because not knowing what they army has got to do with me, so I started opening the door and already they have handled the door to the extent that the bolt was about falling off, but the keys weren’t removable. I couldn’t open it and they were seeing from the window that I was trying to open it, so they assisted me in pulling the door out and the door was open the next thing I saw was hands that I couldn’t see because they had already off our generator, so the whole places where in pitch darkness, I couldn’t see any face”.

According to Nwajei, the soldiers took him down and were beating, slapping him and laid him on the floor. He said when he was on the floor, all he was hearing was slap him, beat him, and they were hitting him and his wife.

“She tried to come to my aid and they also beat her. Because there was no light but I could be able to see through their touch-light and I was able to see their uniform with their guns and I asked them what is wrong”, he queried.

“Before I knew it, they gave me handcuff and that was the first time in my life I would have handcuff on my hand. Their uniform was a little bit of assurance for me that night that they were soldiers but you know Nigerian security uniform, is not something you can take for granted. I was handcuffed while on the ground and within a moment, they beat my Personal Assistant and I asked them, if look, could wear my dress, which they obliged me”. 

After putting his clothes, they marched him out of his palace to half a kilometre, were they parked their patrol vehicles.

“Nobody knows what happened, meanwhile they were threatening me that they were going to kill me and shoot me and so forth and so on, but I kept my cool. They said we were asked to shoot you, I was calmed but when I was branching to my lane, Agumba lane, Ogwashi-ukwu, I saw vehicles parked. They were kicking, butting, pushing and dragging me like a common criminal but I was calmed”.

According to Chief Nwajei, they took him to their operational armoured car or Black Maria, parked far away from the palace and pushed him inside the vehicle. He disclosed that one of the soldiers entered the vehicle with him.

“They only thing inside the vehicle was two sachet of pure water. And the man just said; ‘say your last prayer and that I have been paid to kill you’. By then I wasn’t confused because I knew one day, it was going to happened. This wasn’t the first time it was going to happened. I knew that when you are fighting a cause, that could take your life, it was going to happen one day. So, the only thing I just said in my mind was that I have been expecting it one day”, he disclosed.

“They zoomed off late in the night and were driving very rough and the man with me kept on saying; ‘say your last prayer, I have been paid to shoot you.’ I didn’t say anything until we got to a particular place, and he said ‘you can see that we are using our back to enter, it is the execution place, I have been paid, just say your last prayer.’ we got there, I was surprise when we entered the place, it was a compound and they opened the back booth of the vehicle and I jumped down on a handcuff, then I was surrendered by military personnel. When immediately alighted, I saw there was light in the compound with armed people surrounding me and immediately I came down, one person just came out; the only reassuring thing about the place was that I saw military camouflaged vehicles parked in the compound with military logos”.

Speaking further, he stated that the leader of the group in that compound called his attention and asked him to come to him. He said when he went there, the man was asking him what was wrong, and a question he was supposed to ask them.

“I ought to have said that but he was the person asking that. Then there I told him, you brought me here, because of chieftaincy and land matters and that the best thing for you to do is to kill me now because I’m not afraid to die. I told him that I’m against certain cabal selling our land and heritage or certain cabal ruling my people without knowing the tradition of the people”, he said

“I told him that the best thing for him is to kill me here. That was my statement to him and that if I leave here, the war will start afresh. Like the man said, he said when he saw my face; he saw the face of an innocent man and a face of somebody who wasn’t afraid to die. Then this man also said, remove his handcuff. When they did that, he gave me a chair, I sat down with him, he was not wearing army uniform and he said what I want. The only thing that came to my mind was that I would have said I want to go home, but I demanded for water, he instructed his boys to give me water and when they brought the water I washed my face and hands”.

Nwajei said the military officers later started speaking Hausa language, which he couldn’t understand what they were saying, but that the man later brought out a file. In the file, he saw his name, and picture and he asked him who the person in the picture was.

“I said it was me and he brought a complimentary card and asked again, I told him that the card wasn’t mine but that the number in the card was my number. Again they started speaking Hausa and after a long while, he said go and put him in the guest House and on the television for him that was a reassuring word. And I know these were men of honour, who knew that they have been bought”.

The next morning of 21st by 6am, when he woke up and sat in one of the couch in the room they gave, his people started coming to see him.

 “It was then I knew that they were military people. But the important thing was that there was no military formation in Asaba. Everybody from my village came in the morning, then the man who commands that group, called me outside and spoke to me. He apologised to me and said he is taking me home and I said it’s alright. He asked my people to go but they refused”,

“So around 9am, he brought his own vehicle and drove to Ogwashi Uku. I went to Asaba or were they took me and came back alive. I went to the police station; we met Galadinma, the Divisional Police Officer, I went with the Captain and immediately we went there, he told me that he was told that I was kidnapped. Galadinma told him that if he had told him that he was going to arrest me, he would have advised him not to; that he has known Agumba for the years he has been at the command”.

Daily Newswatch gathered that the allegation levelled against him was that he was wearing army uniform to impersonate the Captain of the Nigerian army and was using it to take people’s land and terrorizing people in Ogwashi Uku.

“They went and printed a complimentary card purported to have been printed by me. It was when I got there that I knew the offence that I was accused of. It was when we were coming out that the leader of the military people was telling me because, he had asked me, was there any time I was wearing a military uniform. And I asked him to bring the person who said he has seen me on military uniform”, he stated.

“The passport and the complimentary card don’t have military logos; it was then that I remembered that in 2004, similar allegation was made, and then we took Osoba palace to court in the Federal High Court in Benin City. They pleaded and we withdrew the case and the records are in court, we will review that case”.

According to Nwajei, “In 2005, while I’m about to celebrate my Inne festival, they invited the DSS, and made the similar allegations. I was arrested and taken to Asaba, when we got there the card was freshly printed and I touched the card it was fresh and the SSS director just asked them to go and maintain peace and that there was no allegation in this case”.

The community leader maintained that he was aware of the plot of the enemies he was fighting before they hatched it. “Now, like I said before, when a man is fighting a cause, there are tendencies of roping him in a case, just to get at him. It was after that I was told where they met and drank before coming out with such plan. And I know the people behind it. They are the same people; I have been talking about, the people who are busy selling the lands of Ogwashi Ukwu and occupying wrong positions in the kingdom. It was a breach of my fundamental human rights and I‘m going to go to court”.

He explained that one interesting thing in the abduction saga was that the leader of the military personnel that abducted him that night, wrote a report to the police and said that he has gone through the allegations and discovered that it was just a case of communal and land cases and that the police should take over the investigation. “I have the names of those who planned it and the one who led the soldiers to my house. They accused me of being a ritualist, 419, kidnapper and so on. Funny enough, the same picture they used in 2004 is the picture they are still parading. It was the picture I used when we were applying for Onihe chieftaincy title that they went to their file to brought it out. No amount of police harassment, army, SSS or any group can stop me from keep on fighting injustice”, he disclosed further. “The military who came to abduct me said the instruction was to kill me and that I was going to shoot at them but that when they came, it was a different thing.  I have refused to recognize the obi of Ogwashi Uku and I will continue to oppose his throne and I will continue to oppose Collins Afuwah as Iyase of Agidiehe and the cabal selling lands in Ogwashi Ukwu. I spent a week in the hospital and after that I will proceed to court”.