�'Okija victims murdered' From Chuks Okocha in Abuja, 12.29.2004
The self-acclaimed godfather of Anambra politics, Chief Chris Uba, who confessed to having rigged the April 19, 2003 governorship election in favour of Dr. Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is being investigated along with others, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun has said. Also, the Police Chief disclosed that the victims of the Okija shrine may have been murdered. Following police raid, more than 50 skeletons and skulls were found at Okija shrines in Anambra State August this year. Addressing a news conference in Abuja yesterday, Balogun said that Uba and others involved in the Anambra "debacle" are yet to be arrested and prosecuted because investigations into the Anambra political crisis is a "cumulative offence and investigations are still on." "We are still looking seriously into that (Uba's confession of masterminding the rigging of Anambra polls). You can see that I have talked about political debacle...and we are talking about Anambra State. It is all part of the political debacle. We are looking at it not as a singular activity, it is a cumulative offence. We will not look at only one factor. We will look at all the things there in Anambra cumulatively," the IG said. Uba had last apologised to the nation for rigging Ngige into office. His apology followed the exchange of letters between President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, over the crisis in the state. Balogun, however, said at yesterday's press conference in Abuja tagged 'Consolidating Security in 2005' that the Police High Command has approved the deployment of eight additional Police Mobile Force (PMF) units comprising 800 personnel and the reinforcement of police presence in key and vulnerable points in the state. Balogun also said that the police have intensified surveillance and intelligence gathering in the state. He said that the renewed police presence in the state has led to the arrest of one Uche Nwozo, a tout at Unizik Motor Park, Awka for involvement in the fire incident at the Anambra State Election Tribunal Office Complex in Awka on December 10. He said that N150,000 was recovered from the suspect. He disclosed that the Police arrested 19 suspects and confiscated 10 buses used by the hoodlums during the November 10 and 11 violence in the state. In two days, hoodlums burnt down the Government House, State Assembly, state radio and TV stations, and Ikenga Hotel among other properties of the state government. Other exhibits recovered from the hoodlums during the mayhem in the state, he said, include one axe, 27 live cartridges and eight expended cartridges. He, however, said that "although Anambra State looks peaceful, it is still plagued with political debacle." On the victims of the Okija shrines where human skulls and skeletons were recovered, the police boss said forensic analysis reports revealed that one of the skulls had a sharp edged defect consistent with a blow to the head from a sharp object. "The report opined that the death might have been due to head injury. One other skull had a sharp edged fracture of laceration on the left skull bone and a sharp edged fracture of the right skull bone. The cause of death was attributed to head injury," he said. "It is pertinent to note that the result of the forensic tests which revealed injuries on some skulls are consistent with the notion that some of the skulls found in the Okija shrines are skulls of victims of premeditated murder. Investigation is in progress," he added. Balogun said that the reports so far submitted shows that the corpses and the skulls were those of adults and that they are still intact. "From preliminary investigation to forensic examination to medical examination to medical investigation, our pathologists have told us that there is violence in some cases. We will move to link the violence to individuals." On why the register of patrons at the shrines were not made public, Balogun said, "If the registers have been thrown open here and there, perhaps many people we will like to interrogate or interview could have escaped." He assured that the "authentic list is still very much with us," adding that "at the right time when we must have synchronized our investigations with the registers with our list, we will come up finally with our findings." On the fate of the suspects, Balogun said the police will "come up with murder charges against those of them that (are) linked with the incident and (that he is) sure at that time the court will know that they are murder cases." Answering a question on the rising wave of armed robbery in Edo State, Balogun said that the Edo State Police Commissioner and some other officers were redeployed because of their inability to stem the rising tide of armed robbery in the state adding that a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of the zone has been moved to the state to take charge. "We have overhauled the entire command as a way of injecting fresh initiatives into handling of security in the state. The leadership of the command has been changed, officers who have over stayed in the state and are manifesting dwindling productivity have been transferred out of the state, while more Police Mobile Force and the conventional policemen have been moved to the command," he said. On the level of armed robbery, Balogun said that over 3,787 suspects were arrested within the year, while 1,694 armed robbery suspects were killed. Also, he said that over 5,405 firearms and 420,281 ammunitions were recovered from criminals. He said that whereas 976 vehicles were recovered in 2004, 54 policemen lost their lives while 39 others were injured in the line of duty. He disclosed that the police is "diligently prosecuting" suspects in high profile murder cases involving Alhaji Ishyaku Mohammed, Sir Theodore Agwatu, Chief Ogbonna Uche, Chief Harry Marshall, Chief A.K. Dikibo, and the attack on the convoy of Governor George Akume and the murder of Engr. Andrew Eggon recorded between 2002 and 2003.
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