Three to four months prior to the 1st
day of August 2013, I was in a hotel at
Lagos when I received two phone calls
from Onitsha. One was from Mr.
Agbaigwe , my plaza and park
caretaker, and the other was from Mr.
Nnoruka , the person who rented the
park. They uniformly told me that the
plaza/ park was invaded by Onitsha
youths led by one Mr. Ayadi Mba, and
some occupants of the plaza
sustained injuries and equally lost
their phones, Mr. Agbaigwe also told
me that Mr. Ayadi collected all the
days earnings up to that point and
that was on gun point.
I rushed back to Onitsha some days
later and I was briefed first-hand on
the incident. It turned out that
Anyamelu bus divers opted out of Ose
Market Park controlled by Onitsha
youths led by Mr. Ayadi Mba and
moved into my own park after
negotiating with Mr. Nnoruka. I
promptly wrote a letter to the Palace
Secretary of Obi of Onitsha and equally
copied the letter to the Obi of Onitsha,
seeking to know their reactions to the
incident. When I waited for two weeks
and got no reaction, I then wrote the
letter directly to the Obi of Onitsha and
equally copied it to the Palace
Secretary. To ensure that the letter will
reach the Obi of Onitsha, I sent one
Mr. Dubem Chude with a copy of the
letter which he delivered at his GRA,
Onitsha residence.
Still unable to get any response, then I
wrote to the Commissioner of Police,
Anambra State and it was
subsequently minuted to the Area
Command Onitsha and it was
assigned to Inspector Dike at the S.I.B
Section. He took the statements from
Mr. Agbaigwe and Mr. Nnoruka. He is
in a better position to explain why he
stopped at that point.
A month or two later, I summoned a
meeting between myself, Anyamelu
drivers, their lawyer, Mr. Nnoruka and
Mr. Agbaigwe. In the meeting, we
resolved to go to court and hopefully
obtain a court order against Mr. Ayadi
Mba and a police officer he uses as a
means, and we promptly served Mr.
Ayadi Mba, the afore-mentioned police
officer and the commissioner of
Police. Same was sent to the palace
secretary by Mr. Dubem Chude.
Having done all these, Anyamelum bus
drivers started loading at my park.
Little did I know that that was the
beginning of this present mess.
Warnings came from all directions by
Onitsha youths of the Umudei village
floor. Mr. Ayadi Mba is from Umudei
Village in Onitsha.
I took precaution by the way of
personal safety. I never imagined that
the threat will materialize in the
direction that it did. On the very 1st
day of August, 2013, I arrived at my
office before 7am, due to a land
transaction I had to complete.
Minutes later a multitude of police
officers surrounded my hotel while
some trooped inside the premises. I
was speechless as I headed towards
my office entrance. Some police
officers have already gotten to the 1st
floor and that’s where my office is
located.
I introduced myself and was able to
identify some police officers that I
know. It relaxed me a little but not for
long.
The leader of the team informed me of
a search warrant which was shown to
me and I felt dumbfounded with all the
allegations against me but at the
same time I was confident that
nothing criminal will be found contrary
to what has been said, my office was
not searched with any kind of
seriousness. While one Inspector
Okwo was pretending to be searching
my office, I overheard a police officer
who briefly showed his face in my
office ask “Where is Room 102?” It
didn’t mean anything to me until later.
I left Inspector Okwo alone in my office
and came to the 1st floor passage
and observed that all the officers were
standing in front of Room 102 and the
door was locked.
The hotel manager was there and so
was the cleaner. I asked the manager
where the key to the room was, and he
told me that the room was sold to a
guest yesterday and that he, the
guest, locked the room and left with
the key. The receptionist came up
with the duplicate copy of the receipt
that was issued to the guest including
the daily lodging manifest which every
hotel submits to the police every
morning. The manifest also reflected
that the room was sold to a guest
under the name of John Obi as in the
receipt. The cleaner also told the
police that she had earlier come to
clean the room but the check-out time
being 12 noon, she left to clean other
rooms. The policemen then broke
down the door and made their
entrance. I saw a suitcase with
polyethene lining as insulator. It was
open. I also saw two water-proofs of
smaller sizes on top of the bed.
One of the police officers opened the
wardrobe and brought out a sack like
bag and opened it, and behold two
AK47s, two magazine rounds and two
very old skulls in the bag. I was
immediately handcuffed and taken to
the building veranda where they
placed the exhibits and took my
pictures with the exhibits. The
suitcase with which the unknown
guest brought the exhibits with was
not displayed or photographed.
Pictures of exactly where the exhibits
where seen where not taken. I, being
the target, have been gotten. No
attempt was made to hear out the
hotel receptionist who kept saying
loud and clear that the guest was a
native of Onitsha and equally gave a
distinct description of the guest. The
police completely ignored the obvious
fact that the guest that stayed in the
very Room 102 holds the key to where
the guns and old human skulls came
from. Who sent him to do what he
did? Till date no attention has been
paid in that direction. The storage
rooms in the hotel were not searched
at the end of the day, I was taken to
Area Command Onitsha along with my
hotel staff where I was subjected to
unquantifiable humiliation and
emotional torture. Thank God for my
strength of character and the person I
am, I would have died in the first three
days of the incident.
The guest that stayed in Room 102
knows where he got the old human
skulls from. His real identity is now
known as Mr. Olisa Egbuchiem .
Few days after I was sent to Awkuzu
SARS, I was called up one morning
along with a team of policemen who
took me to Nkwelle Ezunaka Area to
an expanse of land that was fenced,
mistakenly believed to belong to me
and an old decayed dead body
covered with brand new waterproof
was exhumed inside the fenced land.
Depth of the grave was shovel length.
The intention of the plotters was to
place the dead body on any of my
lands but I thank God that fortunately
they placed it on another person’s
land. My picture was taken with the
body. The owner of the very land was
not contacted for any information
whatsoever. The person that lodged in
the Room 102, Mr. Olisa Egbuchiem
knows the source of all these dead
body and old human skulls.
Now Mr. Ayadi Mba, whom as I said
earlier was fighting over Anyamelu
drivers with me, hails from Umudei
village, Onitsha. The elusive guest that
paid for and stayed in the Room 102
of Upper Class Hotel Onitsha, who
locked it and went away with the key
to enable police discovery of the
atrocity is one Mr. Olisa Egbuchiem
alias Dimkpa of Umudei Village
Onitsha. Mr Ody alias Ekenweofia from
Umudei village Onitsha was a principal
participant in the whole set-up. Mr.
Arinze Chukwurah Agazi is from
Umudei Village Onitsha was the
second in command in the plot. He
handled the cash payment. It ought to
be noted that the father of Mr. Ayadi
Mba has been in the mortuary
business for years. That means a lot
as far as this heartless incident is
concerned. Other co-plotters who
played roles in the heartless setup are
as follows:
i. Ogwashi also called Oyibo. Native of
Onitsha and works for Mr. Ayadi Mba.
ii. Owalli, works for Mr. Ayadi Mba.
Native of Onitsha.
iii. Connell, works for Mr. Ayadi Mba.
Also a native of Onitsha.
iv. Ejima, also works for Mr. Ayadi
Mba. A native of Onitsha.
Investigation of all listed persons
phone usage two weeks before August
1st 2013 and two weeks after will lay
to rest all suspicions. Information has
it that Mr Olisa Egbuchiem is using the
money he was paid to put up a
structure.
I challenge Onitsha Area Command to
make public their informant including
his phone number. A relationship will
be found that exists between him and
the names I afore-mentioned.
The local police hands are tied, having
found out that I have no case to
answer but releasing me without any
case leverage for the State
Government will ridicule and equally
make it abundantly clear that the
State Government acted recklessly
and hence my continued detention. I
hereby solicit for the general public to
raise their voices to enable my release
from detention as I did nothing
whatsoever. Till the statement
purported to have been made by me
and my staff annexed by the police in
defence of a brief filed by my lawyer is
not worth the paper they were written
on. It was all in a torture guided
tailored-made statement intended to
legitimize the unguided acts of the
State Government. How can a prolific
writer such as me allow my pattern to
be written for me in a matter of such
nature and signed with my thumbprint
as an illiterate? My thumbprint was
forced on the forgery the police called
my statement.
A comprehensive petition detailing the
people that set up this whole mess,
including the name of the elusive
lodger that stayed in the Room 102
has been sent to the Commissioner of
Police Anambra State. And absolutely
nothing has been done till date for the
simple reason that apprehending the
perpetrators will leave Anambra State
Government starring at itself inflicted
liability sooner or later, it will be reality
time.
I am by this factual narration telling
the general public that my continued
detention has a lot to do with creating
leverage for the State Government
with respect to their self-inflicted
liability in my matter. The public
should not and never believe any
dubious and criminal fabrication that
appears to suggest that I have
anything to do with the planted old
human skulls and body. Any police
statement that appears to ascribe
ownership of the old human skulls and
body to me is purely to serve the
purpose of creating leverage for the
State Government. If it originates from
an individual, it is either that such a
person was subjected to a very high
level of torture at the very police
station the statement was made or a
reward of some sort awaits him or her.
The major reason I continue to remain
in detention since the 1st of August
2013 is because the case against me
fell flat after due investigation.
Releasing me has two consequences.
Namely:
I. The police will be accused of taking
bribe.
II. The State Government’s very
speedy demolition of my hotel tied up
their hands.
Fishing expedition for evidence of any
sort irrespective of how brainless it is,
is being looked so that I can be
charged to court for anything that will
keep me in prison and postpone the
inevitable liability facing the State
Government.
I have spoken the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.