Again, the families of Ogbosan in Okpokunou and Obotebe community both in Burutu LGA of Delta state have petitioned the Delta State police command of continued attack, destruction, brutalization and harassment of Ogbosain family members by suspected kinsmen and cohorts of the arrested mastermind Tokekeme Egbouke in Okpokunou community.
Congress gathered that since the arrest of the murder prime suspect and mastermind, the family members of the deceased Daniel Chukwuemeka Ogbasain had been made to face different excruciating torture, threat of murder, assault and brutalization in Okpokunou town in Burutu local government area of the state.
In a petition to the Delta State commissioner of Police Mr. Wale Abass and copied the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Abuja signed by the Ogbosan family lawyers, Israel O. Nwokeiwe Esq, B. F Mabiko Esq and F. Famateigha Esq.on the on behalf of the Ogbasain family in Okpokunou community and that of Obotebe community by the following family leaders, Mr Godspower Akpos and Moses Okpako Ogboain of Okpokunou Community and Mr. Diare Samuel Perezide of Obotebe Community, all in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
The petition reads, “The Okpokunou Community on aforesaid date and apprehended Mr. Tojejeme Egbouke, the principal mastermind of the murder of Mr. Daniel Chukwuemeka Ogbosain and handed him over to the police the same day. It is our clients’ further information that upon the said arrest which the supporters and followers of Mr. Tojejeme Egbouke attempted to resist, the said followers went on rampage and started attacking members of our clients’ family within the community and others perceived to have masterminded the arrest and went about destroying properties and valuables worth over N200,000.00 (Two Hundred Million Naira) by estimation, brutalizing and maiming several persons with intent to kill them leaving them in very critical and near death conditions.
The assailants who have been clearly listed above further went about destroying dwelling houses and buildings belonging to members of our clients’ family and all other persons perceived to have a hand in the arrest and apprehension of the community chairman who is a murder suspect, which destruction, vandalization, attack, maiming and series of assault have continued unabatedly from the aforesaid date of arrest till date. The assailants have in furtherance of their brazen resistance and protest over the arrest of the community chairman continued to hold members of our clients’ family in incarceration subjecting them to several dehumanizing treatments, putting them in some local detention cells and further subjecting them to horrible conditions in which some persons are tied up and fastened to electric poles within the community and left in such conditions for very long periods until some prescribed fees are paid for their release”
The petition mentioned the following persons in Okpokunou town of carrying out an attack, assault, harassment and torture of family members of Ogbosain in Okpokunou.
They are: Wilson Chamber (Operation leader), ThankGod Ayenbo, ThankGod Matthew Emomotimi, Eseoru Dimene Secretary, Tarela Secretary Moses Edounbo Fred Foun Weighti Petrol Kurokeme Sapele (arm dealer)Theophilus Service Emmanuel Ezonfade Wilfred Serikebebe Charles Kolman Stephe AmgbaraFelix Oyafegha Stanley Afro CeylonClement Ebe Beke Ezonfade Awini Talbot Chief Secretary Amgbara Stephen Kerebu Eginren Jonathan Woko Aguade Chief Francis Kekere Togo, Ezonfade Peter Adeka Alex Albert Kenneth Gube Sunday John Ofiti Prince Ladaufa Arthur Dude Power Dude Boro Icebreakers Fiemotonghan Edumu Menearebunughan John Lawyer Bosele Febor Jeremiah Kangu Akigidi Titan Badukeme Police Keke Complain Solomon DisiPowei Arthur Nelson DekeseiAya-ogbo Kolma Harrison Yerinbolou-emi Peres Kurokeme Jacob Appah Okotiebor Ayakeme Eyoro-ere Enieke Ogese Pereokosufa KabokemeEkamata Bilabiri Aya-ogbo( Ekamata Nephew)Frank Shopware Owotorofa Apamo Felix Ngo Ayemi, and others sponsored by Barr. Luna Ocholor (Nee Aliya) – Principal Secretary to the Governor of Delta State. Hon. Kelvin Adamu Kabokeme Chief Secretary Amgbara Chief Joel Ebigbagha Amakamu Chief Francis Kekere Chief Hardwood Woto Chief Ekole Free Mathew ThankGod Alfred Apenapena Delimor Alfred Efidi Bilabiri Ofege Aliyah Adangbe Shopware Boro Serikebebe Felix Oyafegha Sunday Ofiti Gbenekeme Agbai Pamokere Sugar-egbidi Peter Adeka Okotiebor Agbai Pereokosufa Kabokeme Ojobolo Deine Daulayefa Wenetone.
“We have been briefed and our professional legal services retained by MESSRS. AKPOS A. GODSPOWER and MOSES OKPAKO OGBOSAIN of Okpokunou Community and MR. DIARE SAMUEL PEREZIDE of Obotebe Community, all in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria (hereinafter referred to as “Our Clients”) pursuant to whose very clear, firm and specific instructions to act in connection with the hereinabove contained subject matter, we hereby petition your security conscious office.
Continued “Our clients have informed us that they have an earlier petition dated 31st May, 2023 pending before your office bordering on the murder of one Mr. Daniel Chukwuemeka Ogbosain in which the principal suspects are HRM PERE AYEMI CHARLES BOTU (now late) and TOKEKEME EGBOUKE (the Okpokunou Community Chairman) amongst others, being community leaders who took laws into their hands and lynched the deceased to death and impunitively interred his body.That given the gravity of the offence involved in the aforesaid complaint of 31st May, 2023, your office through your officers at the Homicide Section swung into action but could not effect any arrest or apprehend any of the suspects despite several attempts due to the force of resistance put up by the suspects and their cohorts who are permanently resident in Okpokunou Community. In one of those attempts, the officers who went for the arrest were almost lynched but narrowly escaped the planned attack on them, whence it became practically impossible for the officers to go into the community to carry out their lawful duties of apprehending the alleged murderers, hence they became confronted with a stalemate. That because of our clients’ persistence to get justice over the death of their son who was gruesomely murdered by the named suspects in the said earlier petition, the officers were recently propelled to resume their efforts to arrest and apprehend the suspects in the said petition and it took the support, assistance and intervention of the Military Joint Task Force based in the nearby Bomadi Town in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State to successfully apprehend one of the suspects on Saturday, 23rd December, 2023. The said Joint Task Force moved into the Okpokunou Community on in aforesaid date and apprehended Mr. Tokekeme Egbou the principal mastermind of the murder of Mr. Daniel Chukwuemeka Ogbosain and handed him over to the police same day. It is our clients’ further information that upon the said arrest which the supporters and followers of Mr. Tokekeme Egbouke attempted to resist, the said followers went on rampage and started attacking members of our clients’ family within the community and others perceived to have masterminded the arrest and went about destroying properties and valuables worth over N200,000.00 (Two Hundred Million Naira) by estimation, brutalizing and maiming several persons with intent to kill them leaving them in very critical and near death conditions. The assailants who have been clearly listed above further went about destroying dwelling houses and buildings belonging to members of our clients’ family and all other persons perceived to have a hand in the arrest and apprehension of the community chairman who is a murder suspect, which destruction, vandalization, attack, maiming and series of assault have continued unabatedly from the aforesaid date of arrest till date. The assailants have in furtherance of their brazen resistance and protest over the arrest of the community chairman continued to hold members of our clients’ family in incarceration subjecting them to several dehumanizing treatments, putting them in some local detention cells and further subjecting them to horrible conditions in which some persons are tied up and fastened to electric poles within the community and left in such conditions for very long periods until some prescribed fees are paid for their release. It is our clients’ clear-cut information that the assailants have stated in no uncertain terms that unless MR. Tokekeme Egbouke (the murder suspect) is released back to them, they will continue to wreak havoc on members of our clients’ family and every other person perceived to be connected with the said arrest, who at the moment are severally displaced, chased out of the community and given several degrees of injuries. It is our clients’ further information that the situation at hand has left many displaced, rendered homeless and running for their lives to avoid being killed by the assailants who are minded to waste the lives of anyone perceived to be connected to the arrest of the said murder suspect, wherefore our clients’ family members and all other persons within the circle of their perceived enemies are now living in palpable fear and apprehension. That the Head of the Village Police Post in the community who ought to take immediate action to nip in the bud the situation that has escalated to this level is also handicapped and helpless, as he is also a victim of the lawlessness paraded by the suspects and all along, the police at the community has never had the chance to exercise any form of authority, as they do not have the strength to either match or overpower the suspects in order to subject them to the law. In fact, on the very occasion when your officers went into Okpokunou Community to arrest some of the murder suspects and were almost lynched by their followers and cohorts; after their escape, the head of the village police post was made to face very unsavory treatment owing to the attempt made by your officers to come into the community to apprehend suspects.
DISCERNIBLE FACTS:That the aforementioned facts and circumstances evinces a clear situation of crisis in Okpokunou Community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria and given the antecedents of the assailants and all their co-travelers in relation to the issue of the murder of DANIEL CHUKWUEMEKA OGBOSAIN, no security agency is willing to go into the community to restore order and restrain the assailants from further acts of maiming, attacking, wounding and brutalizing their victims including the wanton destruction of properties, dwelling houses and buildings. That the situation in Okpokunou Community would snowball into a full-blown crisis when our clients’ family members and other families within the community whose family members are continuously attacked, maimed and rendered homeless resorts to retaliatory actions to prevent the unending attacks unleashed on them, unless very urgent steps are taken to apprehend the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and brought to book to face justice. PASSIONATE APPEAL:It is our clients’ passionate appeal that you immediately and urgently wade into the situation to curb further attacks on their family members and other targeted victims including the wanton destruction of properties and to particularly restore order in the community which at the point in time is in a state of total breakdown of law and order as the assailants continue to brazenly carry out whatever acts they desire to, continuously inflicting various degrees of pain on people, destroying people’s livelihoods, maiming and wounding people and subjecting people to several inhuman and degrading treatments including the wanton destruction of properties, belongings, dwelling houses and buildings.It is pertinent to further bring to your attention the fact that the foremost demand of the assailants is for the release of the murder suspect Tokekeme Egbouke to them and these assailants are strongly backed by the sponsors aforementioned in their lawless activities, and are more particularly empowered by one Barr. Luna Ocholor (Nee Aliya), the Principal Secretary to the Governor of Delta State to be taking the actions they are taking as she has assured them that she will do everything within her powers to ensure that the said murder suspect is released. It is in view of the foregoing that our clients have instructed us in very clear and specific terms to PETITION your security conscious office to wade into the crisis situation roiling their Okpokunou Community in line with the powers, functions and mandate of the police force to wade in to rescue their family members and other victims from the continuous molestation and attacks meted out on them and we hereby so petition. It is our sincere belief that your offices would waste no further time but give this petition the attention and urgency it deserves by immediately swinging into action to effect the arrest of all the suspects above mentioned and to prosecute them to a logical conclusion, as our clients are ready, minded and willing to honour your invitations and office scheduled interview sessions to defend this petition to the letter. Please be assured of our best regards as we anticipate your usual cooperation” the petition added.