The Inspector General of
Police, Nigerian Police Force
Force Headquarters,
Louis Edet House
Shehu Shagari Way,
Central District Area
Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
Sir,
INTIMIDATION,
ASSAULT & THREAT TO LIFE, MALICIOUS DESTRUCTION OF ECONOMIC TREES AND
DEMOLITION OF THE HOUSE OF PASTOR SYLVESTER C. AGU BY SOME BRIGANDS LED BY ONE
AMECHI INOMA & PIUS EMEKA NWEKE
‘‘Injustice anywhere is
a threat to justice everywhere’’. ‘’The ultimate tragedy
is not oppression and cruelty by bad people but the silence over that by good
people’’- Martin Lither King (Jnr).
Drawing from the above time-honored quotes, with a deep
pain in our heart, we write to bring to your attention and necessary action the
sheer injustice being meted out to Pastor Sylvester C. Agu and his family.
Background information:
The tearful narration of
the pastor as told to us in our office goes thus:
Pastor Agu and his
family live in a piece of land situate at a carved-out behind No.13 Magazine
Avenue, G.R.A area of Onitsha. The Pastor and members of his family
hail from Ezinifite in Aguata LGA of Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria. His
family started farming on the land in the year 2005 as tenants to Justice F.O
Nwokedi. In the year 2007, their landlord, Justice Nwokedi decided to, and
indeed sold the land to Pastor Agu. The ‘’Deed of Conveyance’’ relating
to that transaction and transfer of the title of the land to Pastor Agu is
attached here as ANNEXURE 1 for your perusal.
Later, in the same year,
2007, Pastor Agu built a house in the land and packed in to the house with his
family. All through the time of building the house he, Agu did not encounter
any encumbrance from any person or authority, and since then he and his family
have been living there without any disturbance from any quarters.
In January 2013, Pastor
Agu felt the need to register the land with the Anambra State Ministry of Lands
and Urban Development and also to get Certificate of Occupancy from the
government. It was confirmed to him at the Ministry of Lands that there is no
other person that holds a valid title to the land, hence the process of
registration and getting the C of O was commenced. As we write sir, the process
has reached the final stage, as confirmed by the Director, Registry in the
Ministry. The receipts and other documents to that effect are jointly attached
here as ANNEXURE 2, for your perusal.
It is important to
mention that between that 2007 and now, several persons have offered to buy the
place from him but he has always declined acceptance to their offers. One of
such offerors is Mr. Azubike Onyeje (The owner of the land next to Pastor Agu’s
compound)
The Criminal Conducts of
Amaechi and His Thugs:
Pastor Agu underwent a
major surgical operation (Amobic Liver Abscess) on the 29th day
of October, 2013 He was in the hospital for about three weeks after the
surgery. A copy of his photograph while still in the hospital is attached here
as ANNEXURE 3, to buttress this fact.
The pastor’s
convalescence process was made turbulent as he started getting strange phone
calls from somebody who identified himself as Amechi Inoma, while he was still
in the hospital. The strange caller, Amechi told him that he would want to see
him to discuss issues concerning a certain piece of land. He told him that he
is in the hospital and that if the matter is urgent then he may come to the
hospital. Though the caller refused going to the hospital, he apparently did
not believe the pastor as he kept on calling; threatening fire and brimstone, a
situation which worsened the health situation of Agu, as his blood pressure
rose to an alarming level. It only took the intervention of God, through the
doctors, to avert the worst that seemed imminent from happening.
When the pastor was
discharged from the hospital and returned to his house, he called the number
that has been calling him to inform him that he is back to his house and that
he may now come to say whatever it he had wanted to say. On the 3rd day
of December, 2013, Amechi and three other unidentified persons stormed the
house of pastor Agu and told him that they are working for one Best Aluminum,
and that they were instructed by their master to eject them from the house
immediately.
Jolted and miffed by
this strange development, pastor Agu who has never met anybody in all his life
known as Best Aluminum, requested to speak with the person purporting to be the
owner of the house he built with his own hands but Amechi declined. The pastor
then told him that he does not know what he is talking about and that he should
go and tell his so called master to come by himself.
Amaechi who was visibly
angry by the response of the pastor, told the latter that he has conferred with
his master on the phone and that they are giving the pastor till 27th January
2014 to pack out from the house or they will be dealt with in every possible
way. The following day Amaechi brought a paper to the pastor in house, for him
to sign that he will pack out from the house, latest by January 27th,
2014 but the pastor refused to sign. Amaechi and his cohorts, after threatening
the all manner of things, left in anger. The pastor did not bother
himself so much about the development as his primary preoccupation was his
recuperation process.
The next thing the
pastor saw was that on the 11th day of December, 2013, Amaechi and one Emeka
Nweke led a team of thugs and began to cut down some economic trees he planted
in the compound. At this point, the pastor through his lawyer wrote a petition
to the Area Commander, Onitsha Area Commander, complaining the threat to his
life and property. Unfortunately, no action was or has been taken in that
respect by the police. A copy of the letter dated 13th December,
2013, is attached here as ANNEXURE
4, for your perusal.
Apparently emboldened by
the seeming inaction of the pastor over their previous activities, Amaechi and
his thugs came back to the compound on the 18th December, 2013,
this time clearing all the trees planted by the pastor in the compound. The
trees were planted for both economic gains and also for controlling erosion.
The list of the trees cut down/uprooted and the pictures of same are attached
here as ANNEXURE 5. The pastor also wrote the Ministry of Lands,
Anambra state to report his ordeals in the hands of Amaechi and Co. A copy of
the said letter dated 18th December, 2013 is also attached here
as ANNEXURE 6, for your perusal.
On the 19th day
of December, 2013, a team of heavily armed policemen from SARS, Area Command
Onitsha, stormed the residence of pastor Agu at about 5:30am. The officers
ransacked everywhere in the house searching for ‘’guns and other dangerous
weapons’’, according to them. When they did not find any, they arrested the
frail looking pastor and took him to their station. It was at the station that
the pastor was told that there is a petition purportedly written by Best
Aluminum against him. The petition, according to the officers alleges that
they, pastor and family, are MASSOB members. The pastor was detained but later
released on bail when the police discovered the true nature of case, that it
was purely civil.
The pastor was still
struggling tom recover from the traumas already inflicted upon him by the
previous activities of these urchins when, on the 21st day of
December, 2013, at about 6am, Amaechi led his thugs numbering about twenty to
the house of Pastor Agu, held the entire family hostage by locking them up in
one room after seizing all their phones, and began demolishing their house.
When they finished demolishing other parts of the house, they brought them
out and also demolished the room where they were locked up initially. The
demolition went side by side with destruction of their property. Some of the
items destroyed are Computer sets, Chairs, Television sets, phones, Refrigerators,
Utensils and Stoves etc.
Our call: It is absolutely unlawful for any person, no
matter how highly placed, to take laws into his hands. A situation where youth
armed with dangerous weapons, will invade a man’s house and reduce same to
rubbles is totally condemnable. It is a dangerous trend that must be checked by
every possible means. If no decisive action is taken on this to serve as
deterrent, such may become a norm.
We therefore, call on
you sir, to use your good office to ensure that the perpetrators of these
heinous crimes are arrested, investigated and brought to justice. The role of
the police at Onitsha Area Command in the whole episode should also be
investigated and any officer found to have erred should be appropriately
sanctioned. Our specific request is for the investigation to be assigned to the
office of the DIG, Force CID, Force Headquarters, Abuja.
Thanks, in anticipation
that this letter will receive the urgent attention it requires.
Signed & dated this
day: Tuesday, 24th day of December, 2013.
For: SOCIETY
WATCH- A Project of the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule
of Law
Justus Uche Ijeoma
Interim National
Director
08037114869,
08182829278.
juijeoma@yahoo.com
Chike Umeosonwunne
Interim National
Secretary
08064869601
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