ENUGU

Former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye has expressed outrage over the murder of the chairman, Ogbete Market Traders’ Association, OMATA, Mr Stephen Aniaguby suspected assassins.

According to report Aniagu was murdered Saturday night at the Topland area of Enugu capital.

The police confirmed the incident, with Enugu State Governor, Barr Peter Mbah giving security agencies 48 hours to produce the perpetrators.https://dailypost.ng/2024/09/15/gov-mbah-gives-security-agencies-48hrs-to-produce-market-chairmans-killers/

However, in a statement on Wednesday, Nwoye said it was regrettable that the 48-hour ultimatum had elapsed, yet the police had not found Aniagu’s killers.

While urging the residents to break the conspiracy of silence, Nwoye lamented that it would go the way of other murder incidents in the past.

His statement reads, “The brutal execution of Chief Stephen Aniagu, the Chairman of Ogbete Main Market Traders Association, by assassins in a broad daylight is a painful reminder that criminal elements in and around Enugu State have continued to operate their evil enterprise targeting and killing politicians, emerging leaders and community leaders without trace.

“It is more painful and worrisome realising that the 48 hours deadline given to the security agencies to solve the crime have expired and there is no trace of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

“The gruesome murder case file is gradually descending into the vault of cold cases stored by the Enugu State Police Command Criminal Investigation Department. All we hear is the same old statement, ‘we are on top of the situation, the killers will be brought to justice’.

“We heard the same story in 2018 when I was almost assassinated in my sleep. I escaped death by the whiskers but my police orderly was not so lucky. He was shot in the temple. He survived the attack due to miraculous medical intervention he received at my personal expense.

“As if that was not enough, Kevin Ezeoha and Chidera Ogaba were shot dead in broad daylight while attending an APC meeting.

“All the noise made by the security agencies could not result in any arrest, detention, prosecution or conviction of the culprits.

“These same killers went on a murderous rampage two days before the 2023 general election.

“They killed Chief Barr. Oyibo Chukwu and his driver. To make the matter worse, they set the bodies of their victims ablaze.

“As usual, the security agencies made loud noises promising to bring the perpetrators to book. Till this day, nothing has come of it. The killers of Barr Oyibo Chukwu and his driver are still roaming the street.

“The same day Barr Oyibo Chukwu was killed, the blood thirsty assassins killed the driver of Hon. Ofor Chukwuegbo.

“As if the death of Barr Oyibo Chukwu and others were not enough, a few months after the unfortunate event, Enugu State lost yet another illustrious son in the person of Hon. Chief Dons Ude.

“The security agencies took the same old part with the same war of words promising to fish out the killers of Chief Dons Udeh.

“The former Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, promised to pay 5,000,000 naira to anyone with information leading to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the killers. Once again, the death of Dons Udeh remained unsolved.

“Now comes the death of the Chairman of OMATA one week before the Local Government Election. We are hearing the same rhetorics. I wish that this will be an exception.

“But with the expiration of the 48 hours ultimatum and no news of arrest, I am hopelessly disappointed.

“Enugu people have to rise up to the occasion. The security agencies cannot solve the crime without getting useful information from witnesses.

“The conspiracy of silence must cease. Ndi Enugu cannot pretend not to know the killers of our leaders.

“We can no longer afford to hide under the unholy blanket of ‘Unknown Gunmen’. The gunmen are well known to us because they live among us. They’re NdiEnugu.

“Someone amongst us knows who wants me dead, those who killed Comrade Kelvin Ezeoha and Chidera Ogaba.

“Someone reading this piece knows who killed Chief Barr Oyibo Chukwu and his driver. Someone knows who killed the driver of Hon. Ofor Chukwuegbo. Someone knows who killed Chief Dons Udeh. Someone in our community knows who killed Chief Stephen Aniagu.

“The conspiracy of silence must end now, I repeat- someone who saw something must say something. Someone who knows something must say something.”