The Anambra Truth, Justice and Peace Commission (ATJPC) has directed the immediate and indefinite suspension of Shadrach Okenwa, the palace secretary to Igwe Chidubem Iweka of Obosi, Idemili North LGA. The commission gave the order in a statement issued after a public hearing on the causes of insecurity in Anambra communities in Awka on Tuesday.
Governor Charles Soludo constituted the ATJPC in June 2022 to inquire into the violent agitations and restiveness in the state and neighbouring states. The commission is chaired by Chidi Odinkalu, with Bianca Ojukwu as secretary.
In a statement signed by Mr Odinkalu, ATJPC said the Ogidi Division of the Anambra State High Court, presided over by Justice Arinze Akabua on March 16, 2017, entered a judgment against Okenwa and others for the shooting and killing of Obiesie Anaekwu on December 5, 2012. It said in the case, with suit number HID/MISC.30/2013 between Ifeoma Helen Anaekwu and Obiesie Michael Anaekwu vs State Security Service and 11 others; the respondents included Mr Okenwa (sued as Mr Iweka’s palace secretary).
“The court found as a fact that the named respondents, including Mr Okenwa, were indeed present at Nkpor Junction on December 12, 2012, during the attack and shooting of the applicants leading to injury and trauma to the first applicant and the death of the second applicant,” said the statement.
It added, “This finding of fact by a competent court of law remains in force and has not been set aside, so the suspension takes immediate effect.” The commission said it was surprised that over six years after this specific finding of fact by a court of law, Mr Okenwa continued to hold the office as Mr Iweka’s palace secretary.
“His continued occupation of that office is an avoidable source of distrust in the community as well as disobedience of a court judgment,” it said. The commission said Mr Iweka, in sworn testimony before the commission, consented to the suspension order on Okenwa in the terms ordered by the commission and would transmit the letter effectuating the suspension.
The commission called on Igwe Iweka to transmit the letter of Mr Okenwa’s suspension from the office of palace secretary to its secretariat within 48 hours. In his testimony, Igwe Iweka said insecurity and killings in Obosi were a fallout of a combination of cult gang fights, hard drug dealings and animosities relating to his ascension to the throne in 2012.
He said Mr Obosi had become so unsafe that he had escaped four assassination attempts while many had lost their lives, including the immediate past president general of the town. The ruler said he had waged war against drug and narcotic trafficking in the area but had not received the desired cooperation from the institutions responsible for checking the crime.
Other testifiers from Obosi decried the abandonment of the White Paper on the Obosi Administrative Panel of Inquiry submitted in 2016. They said the implementation of the recommendation of the white paper would address, to a large extent, the crux of the matter on Obosi insecurity.