It was scary episode, but a necessary narrative in order to set the records straight especially in view of continued disturbing reports of a possible resurgence of the incident. CHIDIEBERE IWUOHA writes on the sordid experiences of Owerri residents in the hair-raising Okototo saga that is unfortunately refusing to stay under many years after the incident appeared to have been laid to rest.
The 1996 Otokoto killings, which occurred in Owerri, the Imo state capital, precisely 28 years ago, were an incident that ordinarily should have been buried and consigned to the dustbin of history, but considering the need to put the records straight or let the new generation grasp the true account about what actually transpired on that fateful day, this throwback becomes imperative. More so that security lapses are still pervasive in that part of the country heightened by the nefarious activities of the ubiquitous ‘Unknown Gunmen’.
The Genesis
Before the sordid incidents occurred on September 19 of that year, Owerri was touted as the cleanest state capital in Nigeria (from available records at the Federal Ministry of Environment), while Imo generally was probably the most peaceful state in the country.
This was because before that time, businessmen and fun seekers from different parts of the country especially from the South-east geo-political zone used to sneak into Owerri at weekends to enjoy themselves due to the equidistance between Owerri and those eastern states. More so because Imo is surrounded by all the Igbo and non-Igbo speaking states, with Owerri at the centre. That’s why the state is fondly referred to as the ‘Eastern Heartland’.
Despite all these attributes, money rituals held sway with criminal elements terrorising and oppressing the people with their ill-gotten wealth and, on many occasions, escaped unpunished.
But on the fateful day of September 19, 1996, and like a bolt out of the blue, a sort of turn of events set back the hands of the clock. It was, indeed, an unprecedented event that changed the course of history of the state in general and Owerri in particular.
A few days earlier, a signal foreboding what was to happen occurred when a big python was found swallowing another one on a road. This, in the views of elders, was spiritually interpreted as a ‘bad omen’ or an indication that evil was about to happen in the land or was about to be unleashed on the people. The news about the pythons reverberated across the state and beyond. The residents were still in a flummoxed state when the ritual killing saga manifested.
All of these incidents happened during the time the late General SaniAbacha as Head of State and directly under the watch of Col TankoZubairu as the Military Administrator of the state.
The turning point of all these was when an 11-year-old groundnut hawking boy named IkechukwuOkoronkwo was gruesomely murdered for ritual purposes.
The story had it that little Ikechukwu used to hawk the product as part of his daily routine to eke out income for his family. On this particular day, when he got to Amakohia area of Owerri, precisely along Orlu Road, around the popular Otokoto Hotel, it was reported that his face was lighted up with inexplicable excitement when a young, well-fed man waved him to come over. That man, Innocent Ekeanyanwu happened to be his killer using diabolical method.
The little boy was eventually led into the hotel premises (Otokoto) and was said to be visibly excited since the ambience of the hotel was cool as different from the hot and sunny weather outside where he had been pounding the streets all day, calling out patrons. For the unsuspecting boy, that meant that a ‘prospective buyer’ was waiting to buy plenty of groundnuts or even empty his tray, translating to more money in his pocket and enough to take home to his parents who would be happy for his ability to support them.
While waiting, the boy was treated like a special guest as he was given a bottle of chilled Coca Cola to negate the effect of the day’s hot weather. In his innocence, he took the drink and gulped it with gusto. As he was sipping his soft drink and scanning the hotel ambience, he was captivated by an edifice and gradually slipped into reverie. He was still daydreaming when suddenly, his vision became blurred and the sounds around him ebbed away. In a matter of minutes, he dozed off and never woke up again. His tray was at a corner empty of the groundnuts.
Observing the little boy from a safe distance was the man who had beckoned on him to come over in order to buy the groundnuts. He had spiked the boy’s drink and as soon as the boy slipped into a deep sleep, the man took the helpless body of the lad into one of the hotel rooms and what followed afterwards has gone down in history as one of the most heinous crimes anyone can ever imagine.
According to the reports, a sharp cutlass emerged from nowhere and the boy’s head was immediately severed from his body. All of these happened in a matter of minutes. According to the detailed account, after the boy’s head was severed from his body, the man quickly dismembered his torso and eviscerated removed his liver and other important organs he needed, including the genitals. After that, he packed the head into a polythene bag and buried the remains within the hotel premises.
Later, Ekeanyanwu took the polythene bag containing the severed head of the deceased and headed for his next destination, precisely to the house of the man who ordered the fresh head.
The Revelation
The secret (ritual) murder of little Ikechukwu by Ekeanyanwu was let out of the bag when he left the hotel premises in Owerri to deliver the content to the person that needed it at Eziama in Ikeduru Local Government Area of the state.
On alighting from a vehicle from Owerri, he stopped a bike rider known as Opara at a junction leading to Eziama to take him to his destination. Opara discovered that what his passenger carried was fresh human head still dripping with blood. So, when passenger alighted, the bike man (Opara) quickly alerted the police. The police then trailed Ekeanyanwu on his way back in a Peugeot 504 car and he was still bearing the head in the polythene bag. The report had it that on getting to the country home of a highly influential figure named Chief Leonard Unaogu, believed to be the owner of then Leonardo Concerns at Eziama, he was told that Unaogu had gone to Lagos. So, Ekeanyanwu had no option but to return to Owerri with the contents.
The Repercussions
When it was time to take the headless body of Ikechukwu to the local mortuary, there was a massive protest by the Owerri residents. People even fanned out from the neighbouring villages to join the protest against the boy’s killing. They laid a siege on the hotel premises, waiting for the police to confirm that it was, indeed, a ritual murder. As at that time, more people marched to the murder scene as the news spread like wild fire.
It was in the midst of this tension that a local TV station showed the image of Ekeanyanwu holding the head of his victim on September 24, 1996. The intention of the station was to ensure validity by requesting the public to help identify the boy. However, what followed next was an uproar as all hell was let loose. The enraged crowd went haywire, baying for the blood of the ritualist.
The Spontaneous Protest
Expectedly, when residents of Owerri confirmed the news on television, they abandoned their businesses and gathered at the town’s central market. It was there that they decided on the next line of action and outlined their strategies to deal with the Otokoto head-hunters. In the process, unemployed youths and other disgruntled elements took over the parks and issued threats to all Owerri millionaires, ‘nouveau riche’ and ‘419ers’ who had become rich overnight.
The modus of destruction was straight-forward. They first went to the morgue and from there rushed to the Otokoto Hotel and razed it down. From there, they went to the nearby palatial mansion of Chief Vincent Duru, owner of the hotel. They destroyed his property, including expensive cars. He narrowly escaped death by the skin of his teeth. After the attack, the crowd split into groups and launched coordinated attacks on houses of the privileged class, visiting maximum mayhem on their properties. Some of the property touched were the popular Piano Stores at Ikenegbu Layout and Orlu Road alongside Chibet Hotel on Onitsha Road, complete with an Olympic-size swimming pool. It was owned by Chief Charles Orie who was in charge of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC), the house of Akubueze at Ikenegbu Layout and other businesses linked to Otokoto and its associates. They wanted to touch the house of ChinasaNwaneri, a young man then who until a few days ago was the personal assistant to Governor Uzodimma on special duties along Aladinma/Prefab area in Owerri, but some people rallied round him and told the protesters not to torch it, insisting he was not part of the game. They also threatened to pull down the popular Overcomers’ Christian Church owned by Bishop EzeugoEkewuba (now late) for keeping what they termed a human skull in his church, but he managed to convince them that it was not what they thought.
The protesters also rushed to the house of Damaco and reduced it to ashes for keeping cadaver in his house for cannibalism. The TankoZubairu-led government later confiscated all the properties recommended by Justice P. C. Onumajuru panel set up to look into the matter. From there, they raced to the palace of the traditional ruler of IhitteOhaUratta and Chairman, Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, EzeOnuEgwunwoke (later indicted alongside former Milad, Navy Captain Aneke and former Commissioner of Police, Abure by the panel of inquiry) and burnt down his residence and a filling station. They also destroyed his cars and other belongings. Moving on, they added to their list the residences of former government officials and vandalised their properties because of their unwillingness to properly tackle cases of ritual murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in the state. The angry mob only agreed to calm down when the Milad, Colonel Zubairu assured them that a high-level investigation of the incident was going to be carried out.
What precipitated the protest
Prior to the ritualisation of the groundnuts boy, the people of Owerri were already mad at the bizarre actions of some loud, extremely powerful and obscenely wealthy individuals in the state. These people were highly connected and they oppressed everyone wherever they went. Report had it that they were taking over girl friends of residents and inducing those ladies with financial gratifications and gifts. Most times, these powerful individuals would command a lady walking on the street with her boyfriend to join them in their own flashy vehicles. If the young man showed any sign of resistance, their thugs would beat him up and force the girl into any of their vehicles. Rumours were all over the place about their dark dealings and even the possibility of ritual killings but no one really had any strong evidence or probably those with it were so afraid to say anything. Whatever was the case, these rich people who had no real, tangible or easily traceable sources of wealth kept on living large and foisting an atmosphere of terror and fear on Owerri residents. So, when the residents heard about the ritual murder involving little Ikechukwu, Owerri exploded with anger, mayhem and resentment that had been bottled up for many years. For two days running, the tens of thousands of Owerrians pounded the streets, raising dust in protests. Not even the strongarm tactics of the Military Administrator, Colonel Zubairu, could stop them because they believed that a former Military Administrator, Navy Captain James Aneke, was complicit in the protection of those highly rich men. They simply ran wild such that both local and international media focused on the riots between September 24 and 25, 1996, in what was dubbed the ‘Otokoto Saga’. This was simply because the people felt they have had enough. Consequently, properties suspected to belong to the ‘Otokoto men’ or their associates were set ablaze, from luxury hotels to highbrow supermarkets, from flashy cars to palatial mansions. Everything was reduced to rubble. Also, any suspected member of the gang was lynched. Prior to the riots, youthful members of Otokoto gang and other secret societies believed to be offshoot of campus secret cults involved in ritual killings went everywhere, oppressing others with their ill-gotten wealth and making other hardworking youths to look clueless and useless.
At this point, Owerri people lost their no faith in the police. The Commissioner of Police as at that time, David Abure, was seen by the residents as a corrupt and compromised officer who dined and wined with the men in question.
Mysterious death of Ekeanyanwu
Following the outcome of the panel set up by Colonel Zubairu, the head-hunter (Ekeanyanwu) who murdered little Ikechukwu was remanded in police custody awaiting trial. He too was paid in his own coin. He was mysteriously poisoned through his food four days into his arrest and detention. This gave the impression that some highly placed individuals were behind the cover-up plot to prevent him from calling the names of those individuals who hired him for the human parts business. He killed the boy on a Thursday and on Sunday, he too was found stone dead in a mysterious circumstance. But luckily for the investigators, before he died, he made a confessional statement linking the murder of the boy to Chief Leonard Unaogu, insisting he was the brain behind the ritual killing syndicate in the state. He confessed that the ritual killing ring was a well-organised syndicate that specialised in harvesting human body parts for sale to those interested in using them for rituals purposes and other evil things. He also said it was Unaogu who asked him to get a human head leading to the murder of little Ikechukwu.
His confessional statements further revealed that no one in the infamous Otokoto Hotel was spared as innocent guests and unsuspecting travellers were allegedly drugged or attacked and killed in their sleeps and their corpses hacked into pieces for sale. As a confirmation, police officers who swooped on the hotel discovered to their shock that not only was the shallow grave of the little boy, but also more than 20 other graves of victims were found. In a particular grave was a victim believed to be a bigtime businessman with his suite case. In all of these, Chief Unaogu reportedly denied ever knowing Ekeanyanwu and that he was in Lagos when the said crime was committed.
Trial and judgment
The trial of the ritual killing case commenced on December 9, 1996 with Hilary NgoziOpara as the first prosecution witness. Nine people, however, testified before Justice S.O. Ekpe who took over from Justice Gabriel Ojiako, the retired Chief Judge of the state. The court also admitted the confessional statements of Ekeanyanwu and Margaret Acholonu, the receptionist at the hotel who stated that two spots were dug inside the hotel premises and that it was from the second one that the body of Ikechukwu was exhumed. She also implicated Chief Vincent Duru, the hotel owner and further said that on the day Ekeanyanwu perfected the murder, she saw him with a polythene bag and he (Ekeanyanwu) told her that he was going to his Eziama village. A police sergeant, Sunday Onwuchekwa, told the court that he was in the office when Ekeanyanwu was arrested with a fresh human head of the little boy. He also said before the police took Ekeanyanwu to the hotel, he had lied that he killed the boy at Mbaa River in Ikeduru LGA and dumped the body inside the river. The police, however, followed him to the river and found nothing. So, on September 20, at about 7pm, they returned to Owerri. The following Monday, they continued with the investigation and took him to Otokoto Hotel where the headless body of the boy had already been identified before the arrival of the police team.
Officers docked for Ekeanyanwu’s death
On August 20 1997, a Senior Magistrate’s Court docked 10 police officers for the mysterious death of Ekeanyanwu. Those officers were IfeanyiAnozie; an Assistant Commissioner of Police; ChukwuObasi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police; Kevin Ezirim, Christian Nnazi, Clifford Odiaka, Felix Nnorom, Christopher Aguobgi, Ignatius Igwe, James Ibemere and JosephatNwosu.
The case sailed on till October 14 1997, precisely one year after due to series of adjournments, absence of lawyers/presiding judges, retirement of judges, transfers, etc.
When the case finally resumed, many were already pissed off. Leonard Unaogu (the former minister’s brother, LazUnaogu, who served under Gen. Abacha as minister) was conveyed from prison to the court in a brand new station wagon car like a king, while Vincent Duru and other suspects were ferried to the court in a Black Maria and handcuffed. Duru protested the preferential treatment given to Unaogu, but his protest was ignored.
Finally on April 28 1999, Justice ChiomaNwosuIheme took over the case. In her judgment, she sentenced all the seven suspects to death. Chief Vincent Duru, who appealed against the sentence in 2012 but was rejected. He was reportedly hanged years later. He and Unaogu denied knowing each other but Justice Nwosu-Iheme said they lied. Unaogu later died in the Port Harcourt Prison (now Correctional Centre) a few years ago in what has been seen as a mysterious circumstance.
The reign of Black Scorpions led by ObicheozorDuru, Otokoto’s son
Prior to the murder of little Ikechukwu, several children had vanished in Owerri and were never found till date. Some were kidnapped and their wealthy parents made to pay ransom. It was so serious that in May 1995, the daughter of Dr. Okoh, a physician based in Owerri, was kidnapped by the Black Scorpions, one of the elite secret cults led by ObidiozorDuru, Chief Vincent OtokotoDuru’s son and was asked to pay a ransom of $12,000 before the girl would be released. Eventually the police stormed the hideout of the cult group and months later, leader of the cult, Obicheozor, and one of his close allies, AmanzeOnuoha, were arrested and brought before the Imo State Robbery and Firearms Tribunal on charges of armed robbery.
A heavyweight politician and businessman who was the president general of OhanaezeNdigbo Worldwide was mentioned in the saga. The Black Scorpions claimed that they had a transaction with him but he failed to play his own part. So, they attempted seizing his father’s corpse and attempted putting his Glass House, a 5-storey edifice that houses all his conglomerates situated on Okigwe Road Owerri, immediately after the Orji Flyover on sale. The former leader of the Ohanaeze, however, denied ever knowing anything about them and their case. Curiously however, Obidiozor and Ananze his friend were treated like kings rather than criminals awaiting death penalty while in prison. All of these were because as at that time, people worshipped wealth without any knowledge of its source. Obidiozor and his gang got the most liberal visiting privileges and ate foods cooked and brought from homes even while in prison. In fact, they were accorded the kingly treatment.
Duru, a Ph.D holder in Psychology from the University of California even impregnated one of his female jailers, and did a traditional wedding with her before the case ended. To prove a point, while they were incarcerated, the rate of child kidnapping in Imo dropped drastically.
In 1997, six people were executed by a firing squad following a judgement by Justice Emmanuel Nnodim. Obidiozor, AmanzeOnuoha and other members of his gang were among them. ChidiebereOkoroafor, whose father was a permanent secretary in the state at a time, escaped this sentence because it was discovered that he was a minor.
Before they faced the bullets, there was no sign of remorse or regret on their faces; rather, they sang sarcastically, “Today, today, tomorrow no more, if I die today, I will die no more.” They continued singing until the hot lead killed the song… forever!
Commenting on all these historical events, a politician in Owerri, Hon EmekaMbadiwe regretted that those people who were sacked through masses’ revolution in 1996 have come back to occupy various positions in the state.
According to him, “There are now ritual killings more than what we witnessed during the Otokoto crisis. Children and youths are missing, kidnapped and killed on a daily basis and nobody is talking. There is intimidation everywhere and if you talk, you are branded either an IPOB or opposition member.”
A civil servant who preferred to lie low confided in Blueprint, saying: “Nobody’s view or opinion is heard in the state and a revolution like that of Otokoto may be looming. All those evils and sordid activities are rearing up their ugly heads. The masses should stand up and stop the criminal elements in their tracks before it is too late. Enough is enough.”