Pastor Simon Anyaoha, father of 35 year old engineer, Chimezie Anyaoha, who was allegedly ordered to be shot by an Abuja-based society lady Monica Ota Uche is still crying for justice over three months after the incidence at Umuchiakuma in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State.
Pastor Simon Anyaoha, who is of the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement in Arochukwu, insisted that Monica Ota Uche ordered the police to kill his son in cold blood and in the glare of other youths in the community.
He said that the trouble started on January 4, 2019 when youths of the community blocked Monica Uche from using her police escorts to abduct a patient at the Mercy Catholic Hospital, adding that the patient was earlier shot by the police at the community primary school playground on the orders of Monica Uche for allegedly destroying one of the canopies she used for rentage in the village.
According to Pastor Anyaoha, his deceased son had rushed to the hospital when he heard that a boy had been shot in the leg by some policemen brought into the village by Monica Uche for allegedly destroying a canopy that belonged to her.
“My son had come to the village for the wedding of the youngest sister of his mother which was to take place on January 4, 2018. Around 9 Am on that day. He prepared and went to the primary school where the wedding was to take place. On getting there, he discovered that a boy that used to work with him was shot by mobile policemen brought into the village by Monica Ota,
“The youths of the community rushed the boy to Mercy Hospital. My son then joined others to visit the hospital to see how the boy was faring. But on getting there, the story was that this woman took mobile policemen to the hospital to forcefully whisk my son away,
“But the youths of the community who have heard what happened and that Monica was planning to take the boy away to an unknown destination, mobilized themselves to prevent the policemen from taking the boy out of the village. They blocked road leading out of the village. My son also joined them.
“This woman ordered the police to open fire on the boys again. Even when the boys started running away, police started shooting, pursuing them. The police pursued my son into the bush where he tried to hide behind a house and shot him dead. The bullet fired at him came in from one side of his stomach and came out through the other side. He was dead before they got him to the hospital.”
Pastor Simon Anyaoha said that the death of his son reported to the Arochukwu Police Station where they took his statement and a police officer was asked to confirm the death at the hospital.
Since the incidence happened, nothing has been done again by the law agencies even as the parents of the deceased are still in shocks of seeing the corpse of their eldest child riddled with bullets on a day they were supposed to celebrate.
“My wife now suffers from high blood pressure and we are always in and out of hospital while all family responsibilities have fallen on me because the boy that used to take care of us has been killed. I am retired and do only pastoral work now,” said Pastor Anyaoha.
“All we are asking is that justice be done. This is a country with a government and laws. We want those who killed our son to be brought to justice.”
Information reaching us showed that the Arochukwu police had reported the matter to the Abia State Command in Umuahia and that three officials of the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) later went to Umuchiakuma village for further investigations.
The father of the deceased was also asked to accompany them back to the state command to make further statements even as the officers of the CID went back to the village a second time to speak with eyewitnesses, including the traditional ruler of the village, Eze Henry O. Umachi, all of who confirmed how the deceased was shot by the police escort of Monica. Uche.
It was gathered that just as the family of the deceased were expecting the police to file homicide charges in court against Monica Uche and the policemen who did her bidding, information got to them that Monica Uche had taken the case file to Abuja.
She was believed to have used her connections in high places to kill the case against her even as she also used police to ‘arrest’ about nine youths and whisked them to Abuja.
It was gathered that in Abuja, Monica allegedly used her influence to turn the case against the deceased and other youths in the village who had protested her criminality and that the youths were charged with terrorism.
Some residents in the village confirmed that Monica Uche claimed that the youths were shot because they were members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), a claim disputed by residents of Umuchiakuma.
A youth leader in the village, Kalu Agwu, denied as false claims that those shot were members of IPOB, adding: “I was working at a building site when some youths in the village ran to me saying Engineer Chimezie had been shot by four policemen attached to Monica Ota Uche.”
According to him, the youths were so enraged that they went and burnt down her house in the village.
Another eyewitness who spoke to our reporter, Peter Kalu, said that Monica Uche ordered her police escort to shoot the youths who tried to block her from taking away a patient from the village hospital, stressing any story about IPOB is diversionary.
“Everyone knew what happened in our village, how policemen were ordered to shoot by Monica Uche, and they shot him dead for nothing. The story about IPOB is all lies.”
When contacted, the spokesman of Abia State Police Command, Ogbonna Geoffrey, said the case file had been transferred to Abuja and the Command would not make any comment.
“That case is no longer with us; it has been taken to Abuja so I cannot say anything on it.”
Also, the Force Public Relations Officer in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Frank Mba, claimed ignorance of the case, saying: “the case happened before my appointment, so I don’t have any information to give you. But if I can get the details of the IPO and may be able to get the information you want.”
However, Mba subsequently refused to pick phone calls or respond to text messages after the details of the case and the IPO have been made known to him.
