By Odinaka Kalu

…The voice instruction from the phone record told the hitmen to make sure they tie a big stone around the waist of the victim so that he sinks very well when they throw the body inside the river he pointed out to them.

This is the deadly story ruling social media for some days now after a voice note was made public on several WhatsApp groups in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State. What took many people aback over the ugly story is that both the victim and the mastermind are from the same community and are well known to be friends and allies dating back in time.

According to a report on TVAfrica Blog which broke the sad news on Sunday, the account of the victim’s family and his pressure group known as Abia North Youth Agenda coupled with the audio and bank alert is enough forensic evidence to prosecute the mastermind because the development is not what Abia state government should treat with levity as many concerned citizens of Abia extraction both home and in the diaspora has continued to call for justice to be served to be a deterrent to like mind that constitutes a threat to the lives of others.

In the story, the normally tranquil village of Okon-Aku in the Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State experienced unrest on June 12, 2023, after a graphic image of one of the community’s sons who had been missing for two weeks surfaced on social media.

 About 24 hours after the tragic news broke, there was another surprise: Udoeze was still alive and well. With this confusion in hand, the Abia North Youth Agenda (ANYA), whose founder is Hon. Udoeze Agwu Kalu (the Victim), decided to investigate further to ascertain what took place.

The Group claimed that Chief Awa Ajugu, a traditional herbalist and native of Okon-Aku, was accused and his voice was captured in a widely circulated audio in which he allegedly planned the murder of his brother from the same community and possibly one of his close friends before the ugly incident. The Abia state and local authorities are sifting through all the information at their disposal and following the case to its logical conclusion to solve the mystery.

According to the report, the audio which was in the Igbo language is that of Chief Awa who hired assassins and agreed to pay N500,000 for the killing of Udoeze. He gave them an N300,000 advance and asked that they carry out the murders in the same way as the previous ones. The voice purported to be that of Chief Awa Ajugu was unaware that he was being recorded. The final instruction he gave was to complete the transaction clean, adding: 

“…make sure you tie a big stone around the waist of the victim to make sure he sinks very well when you throw the body inside the river.

 From the recollection of the victim’s family. The assassin kingpin, who had been hunting Udoeze for some time but had grown a conscience, disclosed the scheme to assassinate Udoeze. Plans were made to gather proof supporting the assassins’ claims after security and other relevant authorities were made aware of their confession. This resulted in several audio evidence recordings and bank alerts that came from the suspect.

Who keeps watch over Awa in the executive suites?

ANYA asserted that during their investigation, they were astounded to learn that the man who is trying to imitate the Evans situation in Abia State was able to escape from custody by spending more than one million Naira.

According to other sources, the man his men have come to call “The General” had no problem killing a human being for sport. For instance, a former acquaintance of Chief Awa Ajugu who is also a native doctor from the same community and went by the name Kalu Ibe acknowledged in a separate audio that Chief Awa once had a garden of Pythons and kept crocodiles at his residence in Umuahia, where he also fed his victims. He also has borough pits in his homes where he can quickly dispose of his victims in both the village and Umuahia.

In the interest of the security of the state, allowing the police to fully investigate these claims to corroborate them should be permitted, but the procedure has taken more than two weeks because it is thought that Awa has connections in government.

 ANYA also alleged that the General was constantly available to remove political roadblocks in the form of opposition to the PDP because he worked closely within the PDP’s power structure. This is why was getting away with everything, he is in relationships with important Labour Party figures. This is because the relevant authority has already informed the family of Udoeze that they lack the legal right to pursue legal action against Chief Awa Ajugu unless the government says so.

The dangers of politicizing this situation

In the report, TVAfrica discovered through ANYA that the aforementioned Awa had identified about four young men from Okon-Aku and one from Amaekpwu Ohafia for systematic elimination. This indicates that the ruse used on him to expose his malicious intentions has shielded them from Chief Awa and his network of accomplices, who are already dispersed throughout the state and beyond. 5 souls can’t be said to be free and secure until these groups of men are rounded up are prosecuted..