A man, Nnaemeka Ifeanyi of Umubele in Awka, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, is currently on the run for allegedly organizing hoodlums who beat a young man to death in the state over a land dispute.
It was gathered that the incident happened on Tuesday, February 11, when the key suspect, Ifeanyi, invaded the disputed portion of land with some armed thugs dressed in black and ordered them to go after the victim, Nonso Onwumbiko, who coincidentally was at the land at that time.
Pix: The suspect
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It was also gathered that the hoodlums did as they were directed, went after the deceased and started beating him and hitting him with weapons at their disposal, which resulted to his sudden death.
Confirming this on Tuesday, the only brother to the victim, Arinze Onwumbiko, said the people abandoned his brother’s corpse inside the bush and fled when they noticed that he was no longer breathing.
He said that early in the morning, as he returned home from school to take his shower, he received a distress call from a friend, who, panting heavily, told him that his elder brother, Nonso Onwumbiko, had been brutally beaten by some individuals and had slumped, lifeless, by the time they left him.
The victim’s brother, Arinze Onwumbiko
He said the key suspect, Nnaemeka, who resides both in Enugu and Awka, had been encroaching on part of the said land, which had already been sold to someone else, while also extending his fence beyond his boundary, despite warnings.
According to him, his late brother, who was a land agent, and his associates had acted as the agents in selling the land, and they possessed the original survey plan, which was duly registered with the state’s survey office.
He recalled receiving a call about the land dispute a week earlier and making efforts to resolve it, adding that aggrieved party, Mr. Ifeanyi had been given the original survey plan and asked to present his own survey documents if he had any, so as to clear the issue.
“But because he had none—having merely grabbed the land without any legal purchase—he couldn’t provide any valid document.
“In a bid to clarify the matter once and for all, a meeting was scheduled at the land with the State Surveyor’s office on the morning of the tragedy to determine who was right and who was wrong. Unfortunately, rather than engaging in a peaceful resolution, Nnaemeka allegedly resorted to violence,” he recounted.
According to him, shortly after his brother and three others arrived at the location for the meeting at the disputed land with the original documents, Ifeanyi stormed the scene with armed thugs and directed them to chase after my Nonso, who started running out of fear when he sighted the thugs all dressed in black
Hee said “The thugs launched an aggressive pursuit of my brother, chasing him for a long distance before finally catching up with him. What followed was a story. And they dragged by brother back from that distance, ruthlessly beating him with sticks, clubs, and other dangerous weapons available to them.”
He further revealed that even when Nonso became unconscious, with his eyes turning white as a result of the heavy beating, the thugs wanted to stop beating him, but the key suspect, Ifeanyi, claimed that he (the victim) was only pretending for them to leave him, and he therefore, ordered the thugs to continue beating him, which they did.
According to Arinze, by the time the thugs dragged his brother back to the disputed land, he had totally succumbed; while, the suspects, upon realizing the gravity of their actions, abandoned his cọrpse there in the bush and took to their heels.
Struggling to hold back tears, the bereaved brother recounted the desperate efforts made to save Nonso’s life, which eventually didn’t yield any positive result, as a doctor at the State Teaching Hospital confirmed him dead when he was rushed there. He said it was the people who his brother went to the land with that morning who were also the eyewitnesses that carried his body in one of their vehicles and rushed him to the first hospital and then to the second hospital to know if he could be revived.
“I was there at the second hospital with them, hoping for a miracle,” Arinze recounted, “but so unfortunately, when the doctor on duty checked him, he confirmed that he was already dead. And just like that, my only brother is gone and gone forever.”
While decrying the worsening and recurring land-grabbing crisis in Anambra State, which has contributed to insecurity and bloodshed; Arinze appealed to the relevant authorities to intervene and ensure that justice is served, without allowing the perpetrators to go scot-free.
“I am pleading with the government, the police, and all security agencies to intervene and ensure that justice is served. Those responsible for my brother’s death must be arrested and prosecuted. They must not go free!” he vowed.
He further revealed that his brother was just 36 years old and had only one child.
It was gathered that the matter had been reported to the Anambra State Police Command.