His Highness Dr. Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe
BA (Hon), MA, PhD, DD
Odogwu of Ibusa Clan
Eziukwu Quarters, Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
FRED AJUDUA AND EXECUTIVE COMPLICITY IN CRIME— How the Serial International Fraudster Used Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to Run Unknown Gun-Men Syndicate
Preamble
I make this Press Statement in my capacity as the Odogwu (Traditional Generalissimo) of Ibusa Clan, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta Sate, Federal Republic of Nigeria, by virtue of the conferment of the said title on me under Ibusa Native Law and Customs supported by a Government Declaration made under Section 4(2) of 1959 Chiefs Law of Western Region of Nigeria, conscious of my role as the traditional chief security officer of Ibusa Clan, and challenging whoever that claims to be the Odogwu of Ibusa outside Dr. Nwankwo Anthony Okoboshi Nwaezeigwe to come up with a counter-statement to the hereunder.
This press statement is customarily dedicated to the late Mr. Emeka Onianwa of Umuehea Quarters—who was half-murdered on April 11, 2015 right inside Fred Ajudua’s palatial sitting-room under his supervision and the affirmative watching eyes of his witty criminal wife Mr. Pat Ajudua a. k. a Adankele, miscalled Honorable Member of Delta State House of Assembly, only to die two days later.
For clarity and easy understanding of the facts and issues before us, I have decided to classify my submission under seven sub-themes which include:
Preamble
Profiles of Fred Ajudua’s Major Home-Based Collaborators
Fred Ajudua—the Unconquerable Iconic International Fraudster
Fred Ajudua’s Harvest of Impunity— From Celebrated Fraudster and Scammer to the Murder of Ibusa Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Mercy Dagogo and Emeka Onianwa
Fred Ajudua’s Vicious Confiscation of Umuodafe Family Land and Governor Okowa’s Complicity in Unknown Gun-Men Syndicate
Fred Ajudua— A Leprous Hand Defacing the Moral Image of Ibusa
My Demand
Let me begin by stating with the least equivocation that the name Chief Fred Chijindu Ajudua is not unfamiliar in the world of serial fraudsters and scammers both in Nigeria and the world at large. Adorned with the horrible and shameless twin traditional title names of Onwa na-Etili Oha of Ibusa (The Moon that shines over all the people of Ibusa) and Dike di Oha Mma of Anioma (The beloved hero of Anioma—Delta Igbo people), Fred Ajudua represents an ethereal paradox of the customary moral instincts of the Igbo of West Niger.
It is imperative to state that this press statement is constructed on a seven-point declaration of facts which is further elaborated piecemeal in subsequent sections.
First, that those Ibusa-based unknown gun-men of Imo State origin apprehended by Nigeria security agents and who in the displayed video refused to mention the full identity of their other members and sponsors were indeed recruited by Chief Fred Ajudua.
Second, that Fred Ajudua operating in tandem with his high level criminal connections with the Governor of Delta State Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and Nigerian Security agencies had boasted to his ring of collaborators that he would use all the available resources at his disposal to get the Nigeria Police eliminate the said unknown gun-men to avoid their implication.
Third, that the first fundamental reason for Fred Ajudua’s recruitment of the said unknown gun-men is to acquire more arms and ammunition, having stated previously in a recorded audio during the 2019 General elections that he already had in his armory more than 30 rifles and would acquire more once the sum of 10 million naira is at his disposal.
Fourth, that the second fundamental reason for Fred Ajudua’s importation of the unknown gun-men is to kidnap and assassinate the Traditional Ruler of Ibusa Obi (Prof) Louis C. Nwoboshi whose position he has been in a desperate bid to occupy.
Fifth, that the third fundamental reason for Fred Ajudua’s employment of unknown gun-men is to kidnap and kill all the prominent men of Umuodafe Quarters—his home-village, who are agitating against his criminal sale of over five thousand plots of their family land in collaboration with a syndicate of his co-professional Ibusa-born known cyber fraudsters and international scammers, including the forceful appropriation of 206 plots of their family land in the name of his wife Mrs Pat Ajudua, as well as the return of 50 million naira he scammed the village with the false aim of bribing the Supreme Court Judges handling their land dispute with the people of Asaba.
Sixth, that the fourth fundamental reason why Fred Ajudua engaged the unknown gun-men squad is to keep them in waiting for targeted assaults against political opponents, such as Senator Peter Nwoboshi and his supporters and members of People Democratic Party (PDP) who are challenging his unholy political marriage with the Governor of Delta State and consequently his callous dominance of the party in Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency.
Seventh and finally, that the fifth fundamental reason why the Imo State-based unknown gun-men were hosted in Ibusa by Fred Ajudua is to intimidate and where necessary eliminate those Ibusa elites who have been vocal against his criminal carriage which portrays Ibusa as a town of fraudsters and cyber criminals like Professor Pat Utomi, including those demanding for justice against him the gruesome murder of one Mr. Emeka Onianwa of Umuehea Quarters who was kidnapped on the orders of Fred Ajudua, brought to his house and callously murdered.
Mr. Fred Ajudua the celebrated Fraudster and international scammer being ushered into the court by Nigerian Prison officials
II
Profiles of Fred Ajudua’s Major Home-Based Collaborators
Fred Ajudua has been able to maintain his ring of criminal syndicate in Ibusa mainly because of unholy collaboration with three local institutional governing agencies headed by men of dubious character.
The first among these three men is Mr. Innocent Esewezie who needs no introduction in the realm of secret cult syndicate in Ibusa and her environs. He has variously been implicated in murder and kidnap cases. First working as a political surrogate to Senator Peter Nwoboshi, from which point he was made the Caretaker Chairman of Oshimili North Local Government Council and later Personal Assistant to the State Governor on Youth Development, he later abandoned Senator Peter Nwoboshi and switched side to Mr. Fred Ajudua from which point he was elected substantive Chairman of Oshimili North Local Government Council.
His strength lies with his ability to mobilize a ring of cultists for political objectives and this is the major reason he is sellable to most political gladiators in Ibusa and subsequently the Governor of Delta State. Since switching side, he has reason to the position of one of the clandestine powers behind Fred Ajudua’s political vagrancy in Ibusa.
Mr. Innocent Esewezie— Fred Ajudua’s Hit-man/Chief Executioner and Chairman of Oshimili Local Government Council
The second man of dubious character is Mr. Austin Izagbo—the current President General of Ibusa Community Development Union (ICDU). Mr. Izagbo is the most celebrated coward, serial political scammer, socially corrupt and morally bankrupt Ibusa elite. What he lacks in violent dispositions he masters in dubious craftiness and malevolent conspiracy. There has never been any business or political partnership with Mr. Austin Izagbo without an ending shrouded in tales of breach of trust, swindle, conspiracy to defraud, sabotage or outright rebellion. His complete personal carriage is symptomatic of the proverbial tortoise in mentality and the terrestrial chameleon in appearance—sublime gentility hidden under the venomous pangs of deceit and unpredictability.
He first worked under the respected late Uwolo of Ibusa Chief Willy Ukadike Ikolodo whom he defrauded and subsequently left him ignominiously. This was followed by his contract engagement for the establishment of a Community University (Communaversity) with the revered Ozajiani of Ibusa and former Director of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Obi (Prof) Patrick Chike Onwuachi which he not only abandoned under dubious circumstances but conspired to deny Prof. Onwuachi his aspiration for the position of Obuzo of Ibusa.
As Delta State Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Culture under Military Administrator Group Captain Ibrahim Kefas Mr. Austin Izagbo was instrumental to the adoption of Obuzo traditional rulership institution in Ibusa and the subsequent appointment of Obi (Prof) Louis Cheluno Nwoboshi as the first Obuzo of Ibusa; the same institution and personality he is currently conspiring with dubious elements in Ibusa to destroy.
Still under Group Captain Ibrahim Kefas as Delta State Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Culture, Mr. Austin Izagbo defrauded the people of Umuodafe Quarters by illegally acquiring the present piece of land housing Ibrahim Kefas Amusement Park on behalf of Delta State Government at the sum of 19 million naira which he personally pocketed and later reverted the same piece of land to personal property.
Always appearing in a larger than size carriage within political and social circles yet nauseatingly infested with diminutive mind-set, Austin Izagbo has never been counted among the illustrious sons of Ibusa in terms of positive contributions to community development. The fact that a former State Commissioner and one time Deputy Governorship candidate of a major political party could descend so low as to take up the lowly position of President General of his town’s union clearly shows how catastrophic Izagbo’s desperate infantile political journey has become.
A suspected Gay Mr. Austin Izagbo is suspected to have amorous intimacy with Group Captain Ibrahim Kefas which even continued long after the latter’s exit as Military Administrator of Delta State. It was this suspected amorous relationship with Ibrahim Kefas that gave him the infamous status of de facto Deputy Governor to Ibrahim Kefas. This further explains why it is only in Ibusa among the whole towns in Delta State that two important landmarks were named after Ibrahim Kefas—the traditional Umuodafe road renamed Ibrahim Kefas Way, and the fraudulently acquired public open space named Ibrahim Kefas Park.
It was in the bid to cover-up the simmering scandal arising from this obnoxious immoral relationship that Austin Izagbo denounced his traditional Ogbuu title and ran for social refuge to one of the quack Pentecostal Churches in Lagos where he proclaimed himself a Born-Again Christian and assumed the title of Pastor. Indeed, to further prove how devious this man called Austin Izagbo is, for close to five years, he kept and maintained a secret wife in the neighboring town of Ogwashi-Uku breeding children without the slightest knowledge of his wife until his mercurial character led his accomplices to break loose and subsequently exposed him.
Still on politics, in 1999 Mr. Austin Izagbo as Delta State Deputy Governorship candidate of the defunct All Peoples’ Party (APP) not only defrauded his boss Engineer Moses Kraga but shamelessly sabotaged both his ambition by working for his opponent Chief James Ibori against all moral principles in political contest. Like a typical pick-pocket political criminal, Austin Izagbo preferred James Ibori’s peanut bribery to the exalted position of Delta State Deputy Governor.
Not long after defrauding his political master Moses Kraga, Austin Izagbo turned to his billionaire kinsman, the Chief Executive Officer of Chrismatel Holdings Mr. Peter Eloka Okocha, who was then nursing governorship ambition and subsequently sold a fake and untenable political dummy to him called POF (Peter Okocha Foundation). Like a Bororo Fulani herdsman milking his cow with a habitual ravenous instinct, Mr. Austin Izagbo clandestinely sucked Mr. Peter Okocha of his hard earned resources without the least positive result from his dummy and thereafter absconded to become a free agent to Mr. Peter Okocha’s main opponent Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who later became the Governor of Delta State. There again he began to milk his new master with yet another ferocious instinct to utter consternation of Governor Uduaghan’s aids. In fact at one point, Governor Uduaghan’s aids became so infuriated with Mr. Austin Izagbo’s corrupt infested mentality and deceitful dispositions towards their boss that they resolved to ambush Mr. Izagbo one day on the outskirts of Ibusa by Atakpo River and forcibly took away the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV gifted him by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Today parading himself as the President General of Ibusa Community Development Union (ICDU) under questionable re-election circumstances, Mr. Izagbo is not only collaborating with the well-known international serial fraudster Mr. Fred Ajudua, but is surreptitiously moving closer to the former Nigerian Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Dele Ezeoba for another criminal dummy. Paradoxically, he was said to have been nominated for a second term by Mr. Amaechi Nwaenia—the Uwolo of Ibusa London cab-driver turned fake legal practitioner in Nigeria.
This was coming against the standing tradition that makes the prescribed traditional chiefs and elders patrons rather than members of the Union. What it showed is that Austin Izagbo’s legitimacy as President General of Ibusa Community Development Union is not predicated on the overwhelming support of the legitimate members of the union but on the clandestine support of his ring of home-based criminal syndicate headed by Fred Ajudua. Having thus put himself in a state of perpetual moral quagmire within Ibusa community by failing in his bid to present himself as the counterpoise authority against the Traditional Ruler of the town Obi (Prof) Louis C. Nwoboshi, Austin Izagbo now sees as his only means of survival and relevance in Ibusa the criminal collaboration with the senile Diokpa of Ibusa Mr. Paul Ijeh and the celebrated global scammer and fraud bandit Fred Ajudua.
Mr. Austin Izagbo President General of Ibusa Community Development Union (ICDU) and one of the notorious collaborators of Fred Ajudua
The present Diokpa of Ibusa Onowu Paul Ijeh has been noted for his vicious character long before he assumed the customary exalted office. Far back in the 1980s he was fingered in the mysterious death of Mr. Social Sualim of Umuodafe Quarters with whom he was embroiled in an atrocious war over the control of a Commercial School. In 2010, this same Onowu Paul Ijeh was instrumental to the blocking of the resolve by Ibusa Traditional council to reveal the identities of the serial killers of our nine women in Ibusa farmlands. His reason was that revealing them could cause crisis in the town, since one of the suspected ritual killers named Chief Fred Ajudua donated the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand naira to Ibusa Traditional Council for the purpose of tracking down the perpetrators.
It is therefore not surprising that neither Mr. Austin Izagbo in his capacity as the President General of Ibusa Community Development Union (ICDU) nor Onowu Ijeh in his capacity as the Diokpa of Ibusa has deemed it morally and security expedient to issue statements concerning the arrest of unknown gun-men resident in Ibusa. The only reason which could have guided this hideous abandonment of responsibility is their obvious collaboration in crime with Mr. Fred Ajudua. Such dereliction of responsibility is not only smack of moral delinquency in customary terms but goes the whole length to prove how politically bankrupt and corrupt Ibusa traditional political leadership has degenerated.
In fact one can readily judge the mortifying leadership instincts of both Austin Izagbo and Paul Ijeh through those they recently recruited as their clandestine traditional foot-soldiers miscalled traditional Chiefs.
Mr. Amaechi Nwaenia who parades himself as the Uwolo of Ibusa is not only a man of questionable livelihood but of dubious character. An unemployed London taxi driver who had over time been sustained by the benevolent financial handouts of his wife and daughter, he later sought refuge in Nigeria with the false status of a British-trained lawyer, with which he manipulated the gullible among his people to proclaim him Uwolo, even against the extant native laws and customs regulating the selection, appointment and conferment of such title. He is currently entangled with the people of Umuodafe Quarters—his kindred over the crime of illegal sale of multiple acres of their land in collaboration with Fred Ajudua, for which he had been arrested and detained several times by the Nigeria Police, including facing multiple criminal charges before the court of law. Is it not a shameful tale that an Uwolo of Ibusa who should customarily be presiding over land disputes has turned the culprit not once, not twice?
For Mr. Charles Okonkwo, a renowned scammer-disciple of Fred Ajudua and so-called Odogwu Abel Muzerewa of Ibusa, the 13th day of January, 2022 was a day he would never forget in his life to come. On this very day, Mr. Charles Okonkwo, to the embarrassment of the Honorable Justice Onome Marshal Umukoro of Delta State High Court Five, Asaba and all the people present in the Court bent on his knees begging for extension of time to enable him pay the fine of one hundred thousand naira imposed on him for delinquent conduct before the court. Ironically, Mr. Charles Okonkwo anchored his poverty on his recent trip to Canada where he had gone to solicit for funding from the like of his co-conman Mr. Frank Obodoechina for his illicit Odogwu title.
As nemesis will always catch up with his likes, the case was adjourned with no definite date until he is able to pay the fine. Mr. Charles Okonkwo has tried relentlessly to forcibly seize a piece of land belonging to Mr. Onuoha Okonji and his family in the manner of Fred Ajudua and Amaechi Nwaenia but failed. Consequently, out of shame he decided to proceed to the court in suit number IBU/26/2021, where he was confronted with a concrete moral wall. Again, is it not ridiculous that the so-called Odogwu who should be adjudicating land disputes in his court is the one illegally appropriating land from his subjects?
Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa—Governor of Delta State and patron-protector of Fred Ajudua’s crime syndicate
III
Fred Ajudua—the Unconquerable Iconic International Fraudster
In a recorded audio statement which is made available to members of the press, Fred Ajudua boasted that neither the Inspector General of Police nor the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can deal with him. Indeed he specifically mentioned the former Inspector General of Police who was at the time Chairman of Police Service Commission Mr. Mike Okiro as a little man before him. And true to his words, Fred Ajudua has some reasons to convince the Nigerian Government that he is really a demi-god unto himself.
In fact one monstrous character of Fred Ajudua is his reckless capacity to bribe whosoever stands on his way. He even boasts of his capability to bride Angels and thus sees the Nigeria security agencies, the Judiciary and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as peanut engagements. And Fred Ajudua seems to have proved his mettle in this regard. He boasts that it would be in the next world to come for any Court in Nigeria, be it Federal or State to commit him for any case of fraud.
To Mr. Fred Ajudua, the celebrated international cyber fraudster currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in United States of America Mr. Ramon Olorunwa Abbas alias “Hushpuppi” is a man of little. But then Fred Ajudua might be right in his assessment of Ramon Olorunwa Abbas if we recollect the current status of all his notorious contemporaries in international scams, namely: Igwe John Nebolisa a. k. aAlusi Okuzu), Chief Morris Ibekwe, Emmanuel Nwude Odinigwe, and Victor Nnamdi Okafor—Ezego among others.
Indeed Fred Ajudua often boasts that he is in full control of both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Nigeria judiciary and for that reason no court verdict against him will ever come out from the EFCC, and there are ample plethora of evidence in support of such assertion. The Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Nuhu Ribadu was reported saying in October 2003 that Mr. Fred Ajudua had twelve pending cases of Advance Fee Fraud scam. The question before us is from 2003 to 2022, which among these twelve cases has been diligently concluded before the Nigerian Court of law? The exceptions in this regard were those of the German woman Frieda Springer-Beck who was scammed $350,000 and was nearly killed by Fred Ajudua in Lagos when she came to trace him, and the two Dutch businessmen he defrauded the sum of $1.69 million.
In July 2005, after long series of frustrating court appearances that began in 1993 orchestrated by Fred Ajudua’s craftiness in bribing officials of Nigeria Police, the EFCC and High Court Judges, Frieda Springer-Beck was convinced by the EFCC and the Judiciary to opt for an out-of-court settlement with Fred Ajudua. Similarly, on October 14, 2014, the case against Fred Ajudua brought by the two Dutch businessmen he defrauded the sum of $1.69 million was struck out due to diligent prosecution, still orchestrated by the obvious collaboration by both the EFCC and the Judiciary.
Like the case of Mrs. Frieda Springer-Beck, the Dutch business men whose case first appeared in Court in 2003 were greeted with orchestrated frustration through long and weary adjournments planned and jointly executed by Fred Ajudua, the EFCC Prosecutors and the presiding Judge. The two victims were also dissuaded from appearing in court through the vile threats of being kidnapped and later the possibility of contacting Ebola disease. For these reasons, the Federal Government believed by setting Fred Ajudua free they are combating international cyber-crime and Advance Fee scam among Nigerians before the global community.
Even the two pending similar high profile scam cases against Fred Ajudua before the EFCC—those of one million dollars scam against Mr. Ziad Abu Zalaf that began in 2005, and Nigeria’s former Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Ishaya Bamayi who was defrauded of the sum of $8.4 million and which commenced for trial in 2014 will never see the light of the day in the light of Fred Ajudua’s unequalled shrewdness in manipulating every instrument of justice in Nigeria.
Fred Ajudua has remained the only international fraudster on trial granted multiple permissions by the Nigerian judiciary to travel abroad for fraudulent and undefined illness, all as part of the combined collusion with the EFCC and judiciary to frustrate his victims’ attempts to extract justice from the perpetually corrupt Nigerian security and judicial institutions. In 2021 alone, Fred Ajudua was the only person on trial before the court of law in Nigeria whose cases were adjourned over the false claim of contacting Covid-19 virus. Yet he maintained his normal close contacts with his addle-brained vagrant followers, collaborators and shameless political associates.
During the January hearing of his fraud case at Lagos State High Court, Fred Ajudua through his counsel informed the Court that he was Covid-19 positive from January 8 to January 15 2021. However, the same Fred Ajudua was at Chief Magistrate’s Court Ibusa on January 14, 2021 facilitating his spurious charges against Evangelist Emmanuel Chime in collaboration with his notorious Police agents.
Again on December 7, 2021 when he was billed to appear before Hon. Justice J. E. Oyefeso at Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, for his $8.4 million fraud case with General Bamayi, he was drinking in a nearby Beer Drinking Joint while his Counsel went inside the Court to announce to the presiding Judge that his client was present in the Court but could not enter the Court room because of alleged Covid-19 virus affliction. This is Nigeria for you— a nation where conviction before the court of law is only reserved for the poor and unconnected and where justice before the Court of law is a matter of cash and carry.
This explains again why Mr. Fred Ajudua swindled his Umuodafe Village of the sum of 50 million naira which he claimed was for the purpose of bribing the Supreme Court Judges presiding over the land dispute between them and Asaba people, and went ahead to intimidate and challenge them to call the Police to arrest him or take him to court. Bearing in mind that this was the same style used to defraud General Ishaya Bamayi, one can now note how far Fred Ajudua has degenerated from the Olympian height of international Advance Fee Fraud Scam to the ignominious local level of defrauding his Umuodafe family of the sum of 50 million naira.
In 2007, an Administrative Panel of Inquiry on Corrupt Practices recommended that Mr. Fred Ajudua’s wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua who is currently a lawmaker with Delta State House of Assembly should be banned from seeking elective political office in Nigeria for being a major accomplice in the conspiracy to defraud some individuals of the sums of $7.85 million and 3 million naira respectively. However, using his usual dubious network of bribery among Nigerian security and judicial officials Fred Ajudua ably bribed his way through Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), as he once boasted, with the sum of 10 million naira, simply on the ground that she was not directly connected with the fraud. But the question is, where has Nigeria’s criminal law exonerated an accomplice in crime simply on the ground of his indirect involvement?
IV
Fred Ajudua’s Harvest of Impunity— From Celebrated Fraudster and Scammer to the Murder of Ibusa Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Mercy Dagogo and Emeka Onianwa
On 29 June, 2010, the Divisional Officer in-charge of Ibusa Police Station Mrs. Mercy Dagogo was gunned down at Ogbeogonogo Main Market Asaba. A Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr. Dagogo was specifically posted to Ibusa to combat the deadly activities of cultists in the town. In line with her no nonsense policy she had flatly refused to come to a compromise with Fred Ajudua and his wife Mr. Pat Ajudua who are known sponsors of Ibusa cultists. At one stage, it was reported that she was frontally reprimanded by Mrs. Pat Ajudua in front of her men who threatened to use her position as an Honorable Member of Delta State House of Assembly to get her transferred out of Ibusa. Evidently that transfer turned out to be her assassination.
There is no gainsaying the fact that both Fred Ajudua and his wife were accomplices in the murder of the woman Police Officer. The Nigeria Police knew about it but cannot take proactive action against Fred Ajudua and his wife, particularly after one of the gun-men sent by Fred Ajudua to attack the people of Okpanam over land dispute was caught and upon interrogation by the Police not only stated that he was armed and sent by Mr. Fred Ajudua but was an accomplice in the murder of the former Ibusa Police Divisional Officer. However, in line with their culture of corruption, the same Police ended up burying the matter after sumptuous bribery from Fred Ajudua.
One Kola Niyi-Eke reporting for the Abuja-based Leadership Newspaper issue of August 7, 2010, in his attempt to cover-up Fred Ajudua’s accomplice in the murder of Police Chief Superintendent Mercy James Dagogo, alleged that her killers were armed robbers. Yet he did not explain why the killing took place within the precincts of the ever busy Ogbogonogo Main Market and why the suspected robbers did not take away any of her belongings.
However, the Delta State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Yakubu Alkali during his news briefing at Asaba on July 20, 2010 had made it clear that the killers of Mrs. Dagogo were hired assassins and not armed robbers. The question has remained, where else could the hired assassins have come from except Ibusa where she was serving as the Divisional Police Station; and who else could have been privy to the crime except Fred Ajudua and his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua who had disagreement with her over the activities of deadly cultists in Ibusa town and her environs?
On April 11, 2015, being the election-day for his wife’s aspiration to Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Fred Ajudua ordered his killer-squad to kidnap and hand over to him one Mr. Emeka Onianwa from Umuehea Quarters. As soon as the young man was brought into his sitting room, he commanded his men in the presence of his wife to beat him until he was dead boasting that the highest thing it will take was money and that he has the money. It was at the point of unconsciousness that his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua ordered their men to halt and immediately convey the half-dead body to Ibusa Police Station in order to make his death an official Police matter.
On getting to Ibusa Police Station, the Policemen were quick to discover the risk of arresting a half-dead man and immediately advised Fred Ajudua to instead take the young man to Federal Medical Centre where his state of health would first be certified. On getting to Federal Medical Centre Asaba, the medical officials refused to accept the body and instead referred them to University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. The young man eventually died on the way but had to be taken to the original destination for medical confirmation.
In its opinion on the gruesome murder of the young man, the Guardian issue of June 30, 2015 stated:
BRINGING the killers of Mr. Emeka Onianwa to justice will no doubt be one of the acid tests for the police in its determination to fulfill the promise by President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute all masterminds of electoral violence. The budding politician died last April 13 from wounds allegedly inflicted on him by socialite, Chief Fred Ajudua, his wife, Princess Pat Ajudua, Mr. Innocent Esewezie and five other persons during the April 11 Governorship/House of Assembly elections.
It is almost twelve years since the above mentioned culprits ended the young man’s earthly journey in a most gruesome manner, yet life has continued as normal as it has always been for the culprits far away from the corridors of Judgment. In fact the case of Mr. Emeka Onianwa is another example of Fred Ajudua’s supremacy over the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As he boastfully stated while supervising the murder of the young man, nothing would ever come out of the matter even if the beating led to the young man’s death because he has the money to confront any matter before him. Indeed this has come to be the fact of the over one decade struggle to bring Fred Ajudua and his wife to justice.
Although through the concerted efforts of some concerned Ibusa citizens, the Nigeria Police were initially forced to bring the major culprits which included Fred Ajudua, his wife Pat Ajudua and his main hit-man the vicious Innocent Esewezie for trial before the court of law, however the Ajuduas in their usual vicious manner of dispensing ignoble bribery to high security and judicial officials craftily ran to the Delta State High Court sitting at Akwukwu Igbo where they secured an injunction restraining the Nigeria Police from arraigning them before the Chief Magistrate Court for a case of murder. Indeed this was the only instance in the history of Nigerian judiciary where an Honorable Justice of High Court granted an injunction against the arraignment of murder suspects in a court of competent jurisdiction. But where else could this have happened except in Federal Republic of Nigeria where criminality is seen as a virtue rather than anathema.
The Guardian Newspaper issue of July 8, 2010 reporting the arraignment of Mr. Innocent Esenwezie for the murder of Mr. Emeka Onianwa stated:
FOR allegedly having a hand in the abduction and death of one Mr. Emeka Onianwa from wounds allegedly inflicted on him during the last April 11 Governorship/House of Assembly elections, a former Transition Chairman of Oshimili North Local Council of Delta State, Mr. Innocent Esewezie has been docked at an Ibusa, Delta State Magistrate Court. In Charge/No/MIB/48C/2015 signed by Mr. Bob College, a police officer, Esewezie is accused in a five-count charge of conspiring to commit felony to wit: murder and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 324 of the Criminal Code Law Cap.C21 Vol. 1Laws of Delta State, 2006.
Mr. Innocent Esewezie was also charged for causing grievous bodily harm against another victim named Ayo Okonkwo for an offence punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Law Cap.C21 Vol. Laws of Delta State, 2006. Count four of the charge stated:
That you, Innocent Ezewenzie and others now at large in the same date and time at Umueze Camp area and in the house of Fred Ajudua in Ibusa, Delta State, within the Ibusa Magisterial District sitting in Ibusa, during the Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections unlawfully attacked one Ayo Okonkwo by hitting him with several objects including, cutlasses and walking sticks which caused him grievous harm as a result of which they were admitted at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 335 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C21 Vol.1 Laws of Delta State, 2006.
However, not long after the arraignment of Mr. Esewezie and subsequent remand in Ogwashi-Uku Prisons, Mr. Fred Ajudua in his usual clandestine manner swung into action and before July 29 adjournment date when the Director of Public Prosecution was expected to present his report to the court, Mr. Innocent Esewezie was a free man moving on the streets of Asaba and Ibusa unconcerned and without the least remorse.
The popular online news media SaharaReporters had alleged that fearing that Esewezie’s trial might subsequently lead to Fred Ajudua and his wife facing trial, the duo mobilized all the resources at their disposal and with the unflinching support of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa got the unconditional release of their hit-man. SaharaReporters in their report dated July 19, 2015 stated unequivocally that Esewezie’s release from prison custody and subsequent discharge from the murder charges without reference to court of law was at the instance of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. In fact the report did not mince words in accusing the Nigeria Police of taking bribe to comply with the travesty of justice in such a serious case as the murder of a citizen they were paid to protect.
In her defence against the allegation of bribery, the Delta State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO Deputy Superintendent Celestina Kalu stated that the case was no longer before their command since it had been transferred to Force Headquarters, Abuja on the orders of Inspector General of Police. She did not however stop there. She went further to exonerate Fred Ajudua from the murder in an ignoble manner that only goes to substantiate the reported bribe inducement. In her words:
They alleged that the guy was murdered by the Ajuduas but to prove a murder case where you don’t have strong evidence is not easy. They are telling stories. The police can’t just arrest anybody and charge him for murder… [Mr. Ajudua] cannot be arrested until the investigation is concluded and there is strong evidence against him.
What Miss Kalu was saying in effect is that investigations must be concluded before arrest in any case of murder. First it was the High Court restraining the Police from arresting and arraigning Fred Ajudua and his wife in court for a case of complicity in a murder. This time it is the Police Public Relations Officer telling us that investigations with strong evidence must be concluded before Fred Ajudua and his wife should be arrested and made to face the law. This is Nigeria for you. Nigeria we hail thee, so says her original National anthem.
In her lamentation to newsmen, the widow of the murdered young man Mrs. Maria stated:
Behold, just on the 8th day of July, the said Esewezie was released from prison custody following an alleged directive from the state governor, Dr. Okowa without recourse to the order given by a court of competent jurisdiction. It was also revealed to us that the governor allegedly stated that he cannot be a governor and allow Esewezie who was his campaign coordinator for Oshimili North council area to be in custody,” wife of the deceased alleged.
Speaking further on the vicious activities of Fred Ajudua and his wife in Ibusa, she stated:
It is a thing of regret that since the inception of the incumbent House of Assembly member, Mrs. Pat Ajidua, the area has noticed and recorded the killing of some persons. For record purposes, one Livy Ajufoh, a vibrant grassroots politician was killed over fallout of the last April elections, also a cousin to my slain husband, and others also died in the circumstance.
It should be recalled that it took a petition to the Inspector General of Police Mr. Solomon Arase before Mr. Esewezie was arrested by the Homicide Department of Police Force Headquarters, Abuja and subsequently arraigned at Chief Magistrate’s Court, Ibusa before Chief Magistrate Ferdinand Dike on June 31, 2015. Although Mr. Dike remanded him in Prison custody and adjourned the case to July 29, 2015 pending the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution in line with extant judicial procedures, Fred Ajudua’s superior fire-power had to prevail against a standing judicial framework.
Miss Celestina Kalu— Delta State Police Command spokesperson accused of being bribed by Fred Ajudua as reported by SaharaReporters to cover up his complicity in the murder of Mr. Emeka Onianwa.
The late Mr. Emeka Onianwa alive and dead
Mrs. Maria Onianwa and her new-born baby— Widow of Mr. Emeka Onianwamurdered at the instance of Mr. Fred Ajudua and his wife at their house
V
Fred Ajudua’s Vicious Confiscation of Umuodafe Family Land and Governor Okowa’s Complicity in Unknown Gun-Men Syndicate
In another recorded audio which is equally made available to the press, Mr. Fred Ajudua boasts that he already had thirty rifles in his armory and that he will acquire more as soon as the sum of ten million naira is at his disposal. He specifically mentioned the Governor of Delta State Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa of being aware of his armory and that it was that reason he was recruited by the same Governor as one of his principal squad leaders.
In the said audio recording Fred Ajudua made it clear that he has well armed men ready to confront any intruder in his house. His accomplice in gun-running who could not readily be identified even stated that the Delta State Commissioner of Police once visited him and saw arms in his house, and all he could say was to ask him what he was doing with those weapons. In reply to the Police Commissioner, he told him if he had forgotten that he is equally a. security officer.
The Governor of Delta State Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa cannot feign ignorance of the fact that Fred Ajudua has two major fraud cases of 8.4 million dollars and one million dollars respectively with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Apart from his case with the EFCC he is facing multiple cases involving murder, kidnapping, scamming and criminal appropriation of his village lands before both the Inspector General of Police and the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 5, Benin City.
Dr. Okowa’s exoneration of himself from the knot of Fred Ajudua’s crime jacket is particularly imperative in the light of the recent arrest of unknown gun-men of Imo State origin at Ibusa who were linked to Fred Ajudua, and the alleged plan to eliminate them in order to obliterate vital evidence. This is because there are incontrovertible evidence based on the raw spoken words of Mr. Fred Ajudua that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was not only aware of his armory but has his own cache of arms and ammunition to the equal knowledge of Fred Ajudua.
The case of Mr. Fred Ajudua is obvious and therefore leaves no one in doubt as to his complicity in camping unknown gun-men at Ogboli Quarters, Ibusa. Having stated ipso facto that he already had more than thirty firearms and was expected to have more as soon as he was able to raise the sum of ten million naira, the onus is now on him to inform Nigerians his source or sources of those firearms in his possession and the purpose or purposes for which they were acquired.
Indeed if Mr. Fred Ajudua spoke about raising ten million naira then for the purpose of acquiring additional firearms, one wonders what would be the current state of his armory, given the fact that for many years running since dropping the statement he has been embroiled in ferocious conflict with Umuodafe Quarters over his illegal confiscation and sale of their ancestral land, which he has always claimed was done with the consent of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as the Executive Governor of Delta State. Fred Ajudua also claims that it was at the instance of Dr. Okowa that he criminally allotted 206 plots of the village land to his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua—a serving member of Delta State House of Assembly, further claiming that most of the large acres of land he was accused of unilateral appropriation were indeed allotted to the State Governor Dr. Okowa.
Fred Ajudua also boasts with Luciferian candor that it was for the reason of Dr. Okowa’s personal interest in Umuodafe land that he accepted to appoint his immediate elder sister Mrs. Kate Onianwa—Nee Ajudua as Delta State Commissioner for Land, Survey and Urban Planning, whose main assignment is to regularize all the criminally appropriated lands from the people of Umuodafe Quarters. There is therefore no gainsaying the fact that the appointment of Mrs. Kate Onianwa by Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as Delta State Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning from the sea of notable better qualified and more dedicated stalwarts of his political party in Ibusa was not only done in bad fate but was done to willfully spite Ibusa as town run by morally corrupt people and social Lilliputians.
In fact how does it sound to the ears of Dr. Okowa that such a town as Ibusa with insurmountable storehouse of resourceful and diligent human resources would be represented in both the State’s Legislature and Executive by not only two members of the same family—Fred Ajudua’s wife and his immediate elder sister, but a family smeared with the leprous stench of institutionalized criminality? If Fred Ajudua were to be of Ika origin, could Dr. Okowa have allowed him to step into the outer corridors of his Government much more enjoying the largess of political godfather?
A State where an institutionalized global fraudster like Fred Ajudua is adored and celebrated even by the Governor of his State as a symbol of success, political leadership, youthful achievement instincts, and sublime intelligence can only symbolize nothing but criminocracy at its deadliest level. It will always remain a breeding ground for monstrous criminals—deadly cultists, cyber fraudsters, professional scammers, armed robbers, hired assassins, kidnappers, killer-political thugs and heinous land grabbers. These are all that the name Fred Ajudua symbolizes today, and these are the yard-stick on which he presents himself as the “Moon that shines for all the sons and daughters of his hometown Ibusa.”
It is equally on the basis of these professionalized criminalities that he presents himself as the “Celebrated Hero of Anioma people” of which Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa forms a part. It is on the basis of this same criminal qualification and no other that the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa found himself in an unsavory state of Fred Ajudua’s heinous political hypnotism, to the extent of having Fred Ajudua’s wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua as the Chief Whip of Delta State House of Assembly, and his immediate senior sibling as his Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning.
In fact it will be expedient at this point to take a short promenade on Fred Ajudua’s thoroughfare of pigheaded insanity, morbid sense of value and political profanity to prove to Dr. Okowa that any association or collaboration with Fred Ajudua under any form of political framework is constructed on a cataclysmic political shifting sand and will sooner than expected be swept away by a hurricane of moral regeneration in Ibusa in particular and Delta State in general. And by the time such force comes, he—Ifeanyi Okowa will not have any moral ground on which to stand his already dented political feet.
This is the same Fred Ajudua that masterminded with his wife—a member of Delta State House of Assembly the murder of a poor young man for no reason order than supporting a political opponent and the Governor of the State felt the young man’s life has no value and thus decided to obstruct every possible means to bring the culprits to justice. One fact is obvious. The only thing that is constant in life is change, and no one can predict the nature, character and direction of any coming change. We may labor with all the resources at our advantage today for what we plan for ourselves tomorrow, yet God can decide to change our plans according to the wisdom of his judgment.
It is no longer news that the two major criminal cases against Mr. Fred Ajudua before the Nigeria Police bordering on the criminal appropriation of Umuodafe land, attempted murder, bodily assault and attempted kidnapping are being muffled at the instance of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. This license of political impunity and travesty of justice granted Mr. Fred Ajudua by Governor Okowa is the principal reason why such prominent sons of Ibusa as Professor Pat Utomi who hails from the same Umuodafe Quarters with Mr. Fred Ajudua and has better and higher pedigree would prefer to sleep at Asaba anytime he visits his country home. Does it not sound ridiculous and insane that a land in which somebody of Professor Pat Utomi’s status has more right to the title than Fred Ajudua both by age and family pedigree should be criminally disposed by the latter in connivance with the Executive Governor of Delta State and in exclusion of prominent personalities of the village?
To show how Governor Okowa has provided unequalled security privileges and sanctuary to such a leprous criminal as Fred Ajudua, on 14 January, 2021, one Dr. Emeka Okolie narrowly escaped a gruesome kidnap attempt by a vicious team contracted by Fred Ajudua, in which some senior Police officers were engaged to provide official cover. According to the victim, to the unbelievable surprise of everyone, the core kidnap team included Victor Uwagwu Okolie, Jacob Azikiwe Nwabuwa, Ifeanyi Asiodu, Amaechi Nwaenia, George Nkencho, Joseph Ijeh, Chinedu Monyei and Chukwudi Ogudiegwu. To provide official cover were Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Ishola, Inspector Emeka Nkwo and Superintendent Wowo Kingdom. Even though most of the culprits have confessed to the crime, all efforts to arraign them before the court of law have been frustrated at the instance of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
Again it should be recalled the Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa acting in his capacity as the Executive Governor of Delta State on 24th August, 2018 signed into law the Delta State Public and Private Properties Protection Edict. Ironically Fred Ajudua’s wife as a legislator was part of the enactment of the said law. However, against the provisions of the same law, the same Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has been protectively privy to Fred Ajudua’s blatant disregard of the same law in league with his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua. For instance, Section 11 (2a) of the said law explicitly stated that “A person shall not sell, lease or mortgage family land, property or any part of it without the consent or authority of the family head and other accredited members of the family.”
As earlier pointed out, Dr. Okowa cannot feign Ignorance of the fact that Mr. Fred Ajudua criminally allotted 206 plots of Umuodaukwu Umuodafe family land to his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua—a legislator who enacted the law, and that not only is there a subsisting Nigeria Police report recommending their prosecution for forgery, but his Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development Mrs. Kate Onianwa—Fred Ajudua’s sister, has officially formalized the said forgery using the advantage of her office.
In his “Police Investigation Report: – Re-Case of Conspiracy, Unlawful Possession of Firearms, Malicious Damage, Forgery, Threatening Violence and Conduct likely to cause Breach of Public Peace” with reference number CR:300/x/FHQ/ABJ/FSARS/TH/Vol.49/146 of 21st April 2017, addressed to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja against Fred Ajudua, his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua, Friday Nwokocha, Azikiwe Nwabuwa, Barrister Peter U. Lotobi, Joseph Ijeh, Richard Ijeh, Chief Augustine Atuche, the Commissioner of Police in-charge of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) Mr. D. V. Yakadi explicitly stated in paragraph 4 (xi) “That the deed of conveyance and the power of attorney prepared by Barrister C. J. Odogwu in favour of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Ajudua were forged.”
Concluding the report with recommendation in paragraph 5, the Commissioner of Police stated:
Meanwhile from the outcome of the investigation, a prima facie case of conspiracy, forgery and malicious damage to property and conduct likely to cause breach of public peace has been established against Chief Fred Ajudua, Hon Pat Princess Ajudua, Mr. Nwabuwa Azikiwe, Friday Nwokocha, Chief Augustine Atuche; while Hon. Joseph Ijeh, Richard Ijeh should be charged for aiding and abetting and offence and Barrister Peter U. Lotobi is to be used as prosecution witness. Signed CP. D. V. Yakadi, commissioner of Police, Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), Force Criminal Investigation Dept. (FCID), Area 3, Abuja.
In a related Police report with reference number CR: 1453/2019, although not involving Fred Ajudua and his wife Mr. Pat Ajudua directly but indirectly through their addle-brained hit-men, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in-charge of zone 5 Benin City similarly recommended the following people for prosecution for offences bordering on Grievous harm and conduct likely to cause the breach of peace: Comr. George Obi Nkencho, Onyemeziem Obi Lawrence, Sunday Asiodu, Victor Okolie, Azeh Ogom, Joseph Uchunor, Sunday Akaluzia, Joseph Okonma, Sabastine Okafor, Chief Vincent Bialuwa Ugoh, Amechi Nwaenia, and Samuel Nkencho Eluem.
Like the sad story of late Emeka Onianwa, Fred Ajudua and his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua used their connection and hypnotizing influence over Governor Okowa to obstruct justice in both instances till date. How can Dr. Ifeanyi explain the fact that as a professed evangelical Anglican he is being used by a professed fraudster to obstruct the course of justice on the altar of cheap political objective? On what moral saddle can we then place a king that deliberately and arrogantly breached the same law he signed with his hand? Ironically, this is the same Fred Ajudua that was once celebrated for daring escapades in international Advance Fee Fraud scam that has gone so low at local level scam that he is now swindling his family of their ancestral land, this time using the Governor of Delta State as his official launching pad.
Much as Ibusa people wish to be effectively represented in Delta State Government like every other community, such representations should be predicated on quality. The connections of Fred Ajudua, his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua and his sister Mrs. Kate Onianwa with the present Delta State Government under Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa are curses rather than blessings to Ibusa. Ibusa has a plethora of men of flying qualities both sung and unsung, therefore there is no way the likes of Fred Ajudua would continue to present themselves as the light of the people. This is even saddened by the fact that of all the money he scammed from his victims, there is no visible economic landmark in his name both at Ibusa and elsewhere except the criminal sale of Umuodafe family land supplemented by his wife’s legislative hand-outs. This is the irony of a man who goes by the title name of Onwa na-eli oha of Ibusa—the moon that shines for all the people of Ibusa. May be the succeeding section will inform us better.
Mrs. Pat Ajudua a.k.a Adankele—the Peripatetic wife of the Fraudster and fellow traveler in crime, a third-term member of Delta State House of Assembly
Mrs. Kate Onianwa, nee Ajudua—Fred Ajudua’s immediate elder sister appointed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as Delta Commissioner for Land, Survey and Urban Development for the purpose of legalizing all the land illegally appropriated by her younger brother as well as swindle people of their land through revocation of rights.
VI
Fred Ajudua— a Leprous Hand Defacing the Moral Image of Ibusa
If you speak of Ibusa, you are talking about the hometown of Professor Pat Utomi—the enigmatic scholar and pro-democracy activist; the hometown of Admiral Dele Ezeoba (rtd)—the recent past Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff; the hometown of Col Emmanuel Nzekwue (rtd)—one time Africa’s best paratrooper; the hometown of Obi (Senator) Nosike Ikpo; the hometown of Mr. E. C. Halim—a renowned technocrat; the hometown of Hon. Justice V. J. O. Chigbue; the hometown of Hon. Justice T. O. Uloho; the hometown of Chief Chike chigbue, SAN; the hometown of Ambassador Ignatious Olisemeka— former Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs; the hometown of Obi (Professor) Patrick Chike Onwuachi—former Director General of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; the hometown of Professor Emmanuel Nolue Emenanjo—Linguistic icon and first Professor of Igbo language and culture; the hometown of Professor Michael Angulu Onwuejeogwu—the renowned anthropologist of Igbo historical theory; the hometown of Mr. Frank Odita—the most celebrated Nigeria Police Force Spokesman; the hometown of Prof. Nwanze Okidegbe— former National Economic Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan; the hometown of the pre- Nigerian civil war valiant officers of the Nigeria Armed Forces—Colonels Mike Nduka Okwechime, S. B. Nwajei, Henry Igboba, Major Albert Okonkwo—the Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu-appointed Military Administrator of Midwest Region and later the short-lived Republic of Benin, Lt. Onwuenweonyi Oliewunaji Uwechue—the gallant Biafran Commander of Anioma Sector. Is this the same town where Fred Ajudua represents the “Moon that shines over all the people?” Indeed people need to be well informed. Is it not the same Ibusa town where His Royal Highness Obi (Professor) Louis Cheluno Nwoboshi—a renowned Professor of Forestry is the Traditional Ruler? To conclude without prejudice, is Ibusa not the same town where Senator Peter Nwoboshi—the current Senator of the Federal Republic Nigeria representing Delta North Senatorial District hails from?
Fred Ajudua brandishes himself as the Dike di Oha Mma of Anioma (The beloved hero of Anioma people) meaning the entire Western Igbo sub-culture area defined in political terms as Delta North Senatorial District. Is this the same Senatorial District or another District where Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala—Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO) comes from? The same Senatorial District Godwin Emefiele—Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor comes from? The same Senatorial District General Lucky Irabor—Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff comes from? Gentlemen of the Press, mind you, we are talking about the historic homeland of His Royal Highness Obi (Professor) Chike Edozien—the Asagba of Asaba, renowned scientist and Professor Emeritus of University of North Carolina; the same home-Senatorial District of Ambassador Raph Uwechue—Civil War,Biafran Envoy to France, renowned international journalist, publicist and former President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo; the Senatorial District of Chief Philip Asiodu—Technocrat par excellence, of Col Joseph Achuzia—the legendary Hannibal and Air Raid of the Biafran Army; of Chief Sunny Iwedike Odogwu—the iconic business with a taste of new brands; of Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN— the ever youthful Legal luminary and theorist; of Tony Elumelu and Jim Ovia—iconic bankers of the Nigerian nation; of Nduka Obaigbena—the indefatigable guru of the Fourth Estate and Chief Executive Officer of Thisday Newspaper and Arise International News Channel; of Dr. Newton Jibunoh—the Desert Warrior and intrepid Conqueror of Sahara Desert.
Gentlemen of the Press, let us even go back on memory lane. Do not forget we are talking about the descendants of the dreaded and gallant traditional Ekumeku warriors of anti-European scramble and partition fame; the Ekumeku that sired such famed gallant soldiers as Major General Cyril Iweze—Chief of Staff of ECOMOG and the most decorated West African officer of the Liberian civil war, Brigadier General Fred Chijuka—former Director of Defence Information; Col. Walter Jibunoh—former Nigerian Army Spokesman; Mr. Peter Nwaoduah—former Nigeria’s Chief Spy-master and Director-General of State Security Service (SSS) now DSS; the erudite Brigadier General Raymond Nkem Ochei and, such veterans of pre-Nigerian civil war armed forces as Navy Commander Onwura Zonyeuno Chiazor—the first Nigerian to be commissioned into the Royal Navy by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, Navy Captain Wilfred Anuku—the Commander of the Biafran Navy, Colonels Conrad Nwawo, Mike Nduka Okwechima, Henry Igboba, Ben Ochei, Macaulay Onyuku Nzefili, Henry Igboba, Silvanus. B. Nwajei, Animam Keshi, Rudolf Trimnell, Matthias Moholenu Morah—the Master Army Paymaster, Majors Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu—the hero of January 15, 1966 Nigerian revolution, Albert Okonkwo—Administrator of the Midwestern Nigeria, and H. Asoya—the Okpanam Wonder Field Commander of the Biafran Army Brigade.
It is the light of the above plethora of celebrated men of intellectual and martial gallantry that I stand here to question the continued adornment of the traditional title of Dike di Oha mma of Anioma by Fred Ajudua—a man who has never been known throughout his life for a defined legal means of livelihood order than unending tales of daring escapades in high-profile frauds and scams. Today the name Fred Ajudua is synonymous with fraud at its highest level.
How then can such a man present himself as the image of Anioma gallantry and achievement instinct? How can such a man present himself as Onwa na-etli Oha of Ibusa—the moon that shine for the whole indigenes of Ibusa? These are the questions I call on the entire good people of Aniomaland to reflect upon in the light of our historical pride as the most principled, morally upright and patriotic among all the Igbo sub-groups. Anyi amana-ala nne na-eshigbu nwa—we cannot be making love to a woman and be suffocating her child at the same time. How can we expect a descent political leadership, a descent future generation and a descent social order if we allow our children and youth to see Fred Ajudua’s type as the model of youthful achievement, the model of political leadership, and the model of Anioma personality?
VII
My Demand
Let me begin this conclusion as a fellow Anglican with Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa—the Executive Governor of Delta State of Nigeria by going liturgical. I wish to remind him of the 29th Article of the 39 Articles of the Anglican Faith titled: “Of the Wicked, which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lord’s Supper” which states:
The Wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as Saint Augustine saith) the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ; yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ: but rather, to their condemnation, do eat and drink the sign or Sacrament of so great a thing.
This is simply the spiritual destitution on which is anchored the unholy political concubinage between Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Fred Ajudua and which clearly defines the moral trajectory of the former. In other words, what Governor Okowa is telling the youth of Nigeria is that crime pays and that achievement in crime could also lead to achievement in politics.
The first task before us as Nigerians is to humbly request the Executive Governor and Chief Security Officer of Delta State His Excellency Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to clear himself of the allegation of gun-running leveled against him by Mr. Fred Ajudua. Nigerians, particularly Delta State citizens will like to know the degree of his complicity in the illegal gun-running by a well-known criminal who is currently facing multiple criminal cases with the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as with his kinsmen.
Secondly, for posterity to be on the side of Governor Okowa, he is strongly advised to consider setting up the necessary legal instruments to investigate the extent of complicity of both Mrs. Pat Ajudua as a legislator and Mrs. Kate Onianwa as Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development in the illegal acquisition of 206 plots of land from Umuodaukwu Village of Umuodafe Quarters, Ibusa against the provisions of Delta State Public and Private Properties Protection Edict of 2018. But if he decides not to apply reason in this regard because of his special relationship with the three Ajudua, it is also acceptable. But all he should understand is that he is not going to remain the Governor of Delta State forever.
Thirdly, concerning Fred Ajudua’s obvious connection with the unknown gun-men and his revealing confession of running an armory, I am urging the Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of State Security Service (DSS) to investigate Mr. Fred Ajudua and prosecute him accordingly.
Fourthly, the Inspector General of Police should revisit all the pending criminal cases, including the murder of the former Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Ibusa, Chief Superintendent Mercy James Dagogo and Mr. Emeka Onianwa against Fred Ajudua, his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua and all their accomplices and bring them to justice according to the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Nigeria Police cannot give us the impression that Mr. Fred Ajudua—a confirmed fraudster is above the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria when there had been high profile criminal prosecutions of notable Nigerians more honorable and higher in status than Mr. Fred Ajudua.
Fifthly, the Director General of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) should interrogator Mr. Fred Ajudua over the 50 million naira he took from his people under the pretence of bribing the Supreme Court Judges presiding over the land dispute between his village and Asaba.
Sixthly, am humbly requesting the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to, as a matter of moral necessity investigate the High Court Judge that clandestinely granted an injunction against the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Fred Ajudua and his wife Mrs. Pat Ajudua for the Murder of Mr. Emeka Onianwa. We are talking of a murder case; and for an Honorable High Court Judge to grant an injunction against a murder trial is smack of complicity.
Seventhly, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation should critically look into the degree of connivance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecutors with Fred Ajudua in his never-ending cases of fraud with the intent of frustrating his victims and consequently deny them the desired justice.
Eighthly, the National Judicial Commission (NJC) should adopt a special investigative observation of the course of Fred Ajudua’s fraud trials in order to find out why for close to twenty years none of the cases involving him has been concluded. Is it that the Judges handling his cases are incompetent or that they are in league with Fred Ajudua to obstruct justice? Nigerians will also wish to be informed how long it takes to conclude such fraud trials as those of Fred Ajudua.
Nightly and finally, in the light of Mr. Fred Ajudua’s ability to manipulate the Nigeria Police, the EFCC, the Judiciary and the Governor of Delta State in the obstruction of Justice, what can we say of the justice system of Nigeria and how does that impact on government’s efforts in combating cyber-crimes, if their Grandmaster willfully decides the course of his trial?
Signed
Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe, PhD, DD
Odogwu of Ibusa Clan
January 16, 2022