PRESS STATEMENT ON THE JUDGMENT OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF NIGERIA IN THE AWKA JUDICIAL DIVISION, PER HON. JUSTICE H. A. NGANJIWA, ON THE BLOODY INVASION OF MR. IFEANYI EJIOFOR’S ANCESTRAL HOME BY THE OPERATIVES OF THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE, THE STATE SECURITY SERVICES (DSS), THE NIGERIAN ARMY, AND CHUKWUKA CHIZOROM OFOEGBU (A.K.A. IJELE SPEAKS):

On the 6th day of June 2021, the World was awoken with the shocking news of the second unprovoked bloody invasion of Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor’s ancestral home in Umunakwa Ifite, Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra state by the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, the DSS, the Nigerian Army, and Chukwuka Chizorom Ofoegbu (A.K.A. Ijele Speaks), during which murderous invasion, his Personal Assistant – Late Mr. Samuel Okoro was gruesomely murdered.

It is pertinent to note that the dastardly act was clearly captured by the CCTV cameras within/around Mr. Ejiofor’s compound, and the published footage speaks for itself. The murderous invaders did not stop at the lethal murder of Mr. Ejiofor’s Personal Assistant; they also abducted his elder brother – Mr. Joel Ejiofor, and three of his domestic staff namely: Messer’s Felix Okonkwo (driver), Okafor Lawrence Ugochukwu (gardener), and Ikenna Chibuike (steward).

These direct descendants of Satan thereafter, dragged and dumped the lifeless body of Mr. Ejiofor’s murdered Personal Assistant inside the boot of his Toyota Camry car, which they made away with upon the conclusion of their evil assignment/mission. The corpse of Late Mr. Samuel Okoro was subsequently set ablaze inside Mr. Ejiofor’s Toyota Camry car immediately after Okacha Filling Station, Neni town in Aniocha LGA of Anambra State. This was shortly after they had pushed out Mr. Joel Ejiofor from their car around Nnobi, and ordered him to disappear from their sight.

Sequel to the murderous invasion, Mr. Ejiofor promptly wrote to all the Heads of the Security Agencies involved, to formally request for thorough investigations of the dastardly act, which was ostensibly targeted at terminating the life of Mr. Ejiofor, but for sheer act of providence. Unfortunately, despite receiving the aforesaid letters of complaint, the Heads of the Nigeria Police Force, the DSS, and the Nigerian Army whose personnel perpetrated the heinous crime never investigated the bold allegations contained in the aforesaid letters, neither did they identify their personnel involved in the barbaric act for deserving punishment.

Also, during the pendency of this case in Court, the search for the whereabouts of Mr. Ejiofor’s abducted domestic staff during the murderous invasion, yielded positive result. Our impeccable finding revealed that the abducted domestic staff are being detained at the facility of the DSS National Headquarters, Abuja. Armed with this information, Mr. Ejiofor demanded for their immediate and unconditional release, which did not stop at writing to the Director General of the DSS, but he personally approached the designated department. Unfortunately, the efforts still did not yield the desired results. As it stands now, the DSS can no longer continue to deny detaining the innocent civilians abducted from Mr. Ejiofor’s ancestral home. This is now crystal clear and no longer in contest.

The age-long saying that “A Daniel has come to Judgment”, was aptly demonstrated on the 22nd day of July 2022, when His Lordship – Honorable Justice H. A. Nganjiwa of Court No. 1, Federal High Court, Awka, delivered a landmark Judgment in the Fundamental Right Suit No: FHC/AWK/CS/56/2021
BETWEEN:
MR. IFEANYI EJIOFOR, ESQ.
VS
1. NIGERIA POLICE FORCE
2. INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE
3. STATE SECURITY SERVICE
4. DIRECTOR GENERAL STATE SECURITY SERVICE
5. NIGERIA CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS
6. THE NIGERIAN ARMY
7. THE CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF
8. CHUKWUKA CHIZOROM OFOEGBU (A.K.A IJELE SPEAKS)

For the purposes of emphasis and clarity, we wish to respectfully, reproduce the Declarations and Orders constituting the Judgment of His Lordship as follows, to wit;

1. A DECLARATION IS MADE that the brutal and violent invasion of the Applicant’s residence in Umunakwa Ifite, Oraifite, in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State on the 6th day of June, 2021 at about 2:30am, by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th Respondents and their agents by shooting sporadically and indiscriminately into the Applicant’s home which could have killed the Applicant, and which ultimately resulted in the killing of the Applicant’s Personal Assistant and the abduction of the Applicant’s domestic staff, is oppressive and a gross violation of the Applicant’s rights to life, dignity of human person, fair hearing, right to private and family life, and peaceful assembly and association guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended 2011 and African Charter on Human & Peoples Right (Ratification and Enforcement Act Cp 10 Laws of the Federation 1990).

2. A DECLARATION IS MADE that the taking away and subsequent burning of the Applicant’s red Toyota Camry Car with Registration No: YAB60CB, together with the dead body of Mr. Samuel Okoro and other vital documents and valuables therein, on the 6th day of June, 2021 is illegal, oppressive, unlawful and amounts to a gross violation of the Applicant’s Fundamental Right to Property guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended 2011 and African Charter on Human & Peoples Right (Ratification and Enforcement Act Cp 10 Laws of the Federation 1990).

3. AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION IS MADE restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Respondents, their agents, privies and howsoever called from further harassing, intimidating, threatening and/or taking further steps in an attempt to terminate the Applicant’s life and/or destroying the Applicant’s properties.

4. AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION IS MADE restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Respondents, their agents, privies and howsoever called from further harassing, intimidating, threatening to illegally arrest and torture the applicant.

5. AN ORDER IS MADE directing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Respondents, jointly and severally, to forthwith compensate the Applicant for the destroyed Toyota Camry Car with Registration No: YAB60CB in the sum of N5,000,000.00 (Five Million Naira Only) being the value of the Purchase price.

6. AN ORDER IS MADE directing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Respondents to tender unreserved public apology to the applicant in two National dailies.

7. The sum of 100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira) only is awarded to the Applicant against the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Respondents jointly and severally as general and exemplary damages on compensation for Applicant’s violation of his Fundamental Rights.

8. The sum of N2,000,000.00 (Two Million Naira) only is awarded to the Applicant against the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Respondents jointly and severally as cost for filling and prosecuting this suit.

9. AN ORDER IS MADE directing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th Respondents to identify all those officers who participated in carrying out this dastardly act and must be sanctioned or punished accordingly.”

For a better appreciation of the gravity of the heinous activities of these murderers parading as Security Agents, who have sold their consciences to the devil, it is compelling to reproduce extract from the Judgment of His Lordship on his finding. On page 32 of the Judgment, the Erudite Jurist stated as follows; and I quote;

“… Before I conclude, I wish to state that after watching the CCTV Footage; EXHIBIT A, I ran out of words to express my feelings to what I saw. I couldn’t believe what I saw was done by human beings like us and the Applicant.
In the first place there was nothing shown why the Applicant’s house was invaded. Even if he had committed murder, the Respondents went too far by taking the Law into their hands. The Applicant, all the occupants of the house and the neighbors on 6/6/2021 were traumatized psychologically, mentally, socially and/or otherwise.
Again, the P.A. lost his life out of overzealous officers’ acts, who to my mind are not human beings. They are not supposed to be in the service and be given responsibilities. May the soul of the departed, rest in perfect peace Amen. No amount of compensation can bring him back to life and the lost or injury suffered cannot be healed forever. It is really very sad and unfortunate. They should be brought to book.”…

We cannot agree less! The trauma will, unarguably, live with us and the members of our entire families, including those of Mr. Ejiofor’s slain Personal Assistant and abducted staff, for the rest of our lives. The CCTV footage which you have just watched is explicit, and very compelling.

It is interesting to observe that the motive behind this bloody onslaught on Mr. Ejiofor’s home is clearly, to quietly terminate his life with those of anyone seen in his house. And thereafter, carefully cover up every trace(s) that would implicate the perpetrators. Otherwise, why would they destroy the CCTV cameras at Mr. Ejiofor’s entrance gate? Why would they murder someone in his sleep, a person who never resisted arrest, and proceed to set his corpse ablaze, principally to cover up any trace? This happened in Nigeria of 21st century. Nobody is asking questions, nobody has taken action, but we declare at this point that the spirit of Late Mr. Samuel Okoro, will continue to haunt every person who directly or indirectly participated in the murderous attack.

Our finding had since disclosed that AIG JOHN ABANG was directly involved in the planning and execution of this dastardly act in Mr. Ejiofor’s peaceful home. He commanded the entire operation from the comfort of his office in Abuja. Hence, we hereby challenge the Nigeria Police Force to investigate AIG John Abang’s telephone calls and messages between the 5th and 7th June, 2021.

Secondly, what are Mr. Ejiofor’s domestic staff doing in the facility of the DSS since June, 2021 till date? Why have they refused to release the innocent staff? Is it to prevent them from narrating firsthand, what they witnessed during the murderous attack, or the ordeal they have suffered in the hands of these monsters? The identities of these monsters are known, and they must be fished out for appropriate punishment and sanction, as has even ordered by His Lordship in his erudite Judgment.
We ask again, what offence did Mr. Ejiofor commit that the State is aggressively, but clandestinely deploying her Security Agents to hack him down at all cost and by any means simply because he is a Lawyer effectively defending the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in particular, and the IPOB Worldwide in general, and have not recorded any defeat and/or loss in any of the IPOB cases since 2015 till date?

For the records, we have effectively kept the International Community and Responsible Foreign Governments abreast of the prejudice/persecution Mr. Ejiofor is subjected to in the hands of the Nigerian State, for rendering his professional services to the Leader of the IPOB and the IPOB, who are being persecuted by the Nigerian Government for merely exercising their rights to self-determination, extantly provided for under our Laws and relevant International Covenants and Instruments.

Nevertheless, we seize this medium to call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari, and the Attorney General of the Federation, to prevail on the Director General of the DSS, to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Ejiofor’s domestic staff still being illegally detained in their facility since June, 2021 till date, and consequently ensure immediate compliance with all the terms of the judgment, already served on them. There must be an end to the recklessness of the overzealous Security Agents.

As you are all aware, the United Nations Working Group, recently issued a communication, directing the Nigerian Government to immediately and unconditionally release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who has been held in solitary confinement in the facility of the State Security Service (DSS) since the 26th day of July, 2021, till date. It is to be noted therefore, that this communication has been served on the Federal Government of Nigeria, and their compliance is expected.

In conclusion, we respectfully invite the United Nations, European Union, the Governments of United States of America, the United Kingdom, other foreign Governments, and Amnesty International, who are in receipt of all of our correspondences in respect to the foregoing subject, to prevail on the Nigerian Government to ensure immediate compliance/obedience to the Judgment of a Court of competent jurisdiction, delivered in this case, as well as the immediate implementation of the United Nations Working Group Communication directing for the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. There must be an end to executive rascality and lawlessness.

Finally, I will not end this statement without commending His Lordship for the erudite Judgement. He has restored our belief that the Court remains the last hope of the common Man. We thank the Most High God for granting His Lordship a discerning mind, and the courage to enthrone truth and justice, no matter whose ox is gored.
All Glory, Honour, Adoration and Praise will be to His Holy Name. Amen.

THANK YOU ALL AND GOD BLESS.

Signed:
SIR IFEANYI EJIOFOR, ESQ. (KSC)
29th July, 2022.

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