Until Monday, January 25 when Governor Ifeayi Okowa visited the palace of the late monarch of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom, in Delta State, His Royal Majesty Obi Edward Akaeze Ofulue III, not a word was heard from the Government House in Asaba.
But for three weeks, the monarch and his driver were guests of some kidnappers who demanded for N30million ransom. The alarm that was sounded on January 5, that the highly rated and lovable monarch was whisked away by unknown gunmen unfortunately fell on deaf ears until he was killed. He was 52.
The kidnappers had allegedly opened discussions with the monarch’s kinsmen, demanding N30 million for him to be released unhurt but nothing, the Sunday Telegraph gathered, was done about it. Instead, the people of his kingdom and elders in council rained curses on the perpetrators and wondering the gravity of wrath of the gods the abductors had incurred.
Churches were not left out as virtually all the Christian fold in the kingdom embarked on prayer and fasting for God to touch the hearts of the kidnappers to set the monarch free unconditionally. But penultimate week, local vigilance groups and detectives discovered the decomposing body of Obi Edward Akaeze, dumped along the road by his abductors.
At a point, the Delta State Police Command grieved that no formal report was made on the abduction by his kinsmen or his Council of Chiefs, however, said dragnets have been spread out.
When the State Commissioner of Police, Alkali Baba Usman paraded 24 suspects, comprising armed robbers and kidnappers penultimate week in Asaba, nothing was mentioned in the four page press release signed by the command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu, about the abducted monarch.
No wonder chieftains of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised the alarm when the news filtered into the streets of the state penultimate Thursday night that the monarch was found dead in Umunede, another town nearby.
APC, PDP war of words
The APC, in a statement signed by the Communication Director of O’tega Emerhor Campaign Organisation in the 2015 governorship election, Dr. Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, lambasted the governor. It asked PDP supporters in the state to bury their heads in shame over the shoddy manner the governor handled the monarch’s abduction since January 5, this year, until he was killed and thrown aboard along with his driver at Ekpon in Edo State, three weeks after.
“The careless attitude of the state governor” in the search for the late monarch led to his death of the first class monarch. The search team did a poor job, it failed to do enough public enlightenment, and security strategies were not adequately utilised to rescue the Obi from the hands of his abductors,” APC said.
The party decried the leadership style of Governor Okowa, whom it maintained failed in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the state.
“As the CSO of the state, he should display the same capacity and authority of a military troop commander who is saddled with the responsibility of issuing out strategic and decisive instructions to his men with the sole objective of winning a war,” the party further asserted.
While it said it was regrettable that the people of Ubulu-Uku and Deltans had to mourn their monarch whose reign, “ought to surpass several more decades to come,” in an unpalatable way, it prayed God to grant the elders in council and the entire Ubulu-Uku people the fortitude to bear the demise, police command in the state said it has arrested one suspect in connection to the abduction and murder.
The state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has struggled to correct the manner government managed the situation. The party said it was wring for anyone to accuse Governor I Okowa of insensitivity in the manner he handled the threats by the kidnappers.
An unperturbed PDP state executive member, who pleaded anonymity for not being the Publicity Secretary of the party, merely trivialized it, saying that “a failed party like the APC resorted to fanning the embers of discord after its poor outing at the last governorship election.”
Another member of the PDP, however, said that it would be wrong to say that government did nothing about the kidnap and consequent murder, adding that a lot of underground work must have gone into the search, especially since a cousin of the late monarch is a member of the State House of Assembly.
A Special Adviser to the Governor, Udenba Amaechi said it is wrong to say the governor was insensitive.
“As soon as the incident happened, Governor Okowa immediately directed the police to do everything possible to ensure the release of the Obi of Ubulu Uku and bring the abductors to book. It is incorrect to say that nothing was done until the Obi of Ubulu Uku was killed. Governor Okowa has appealed to members of the public to assist the police with information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators,” he said.
Police doublespeak
If the state government’s inaction was disturbing, that of police leadership in the state amounted to inertia and doublespeak. The Commissioner of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, who paraded 24 suspected armed robbers and kidnappers a few days after in Asaba, claimed ignorance on the monarch’s kidnap. According to him, the command heard it as a rumour that the monarch was kidnapped, maintaining that “as I speak to you, nobody has deemed it fit to come and make a formal report.”
However, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu in Asaba had to confirm the monarch’s murder. She said: “I can confirm that a decomposing body was discovered at a bus at Umunede. We have invited a pathologist to carry out necessary examination to ascertain whether or not the decomposed corps is that of the Ubulu-Uku monarch or not. The body of the dead monarch has been deposited at the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Asaba, for necessary examination.”
However, in a press release, dated January 22, Kalu said: “the DPO Igbodo Division received information that the Obi of Ubulu-Uku, HRM Edward Akaeze Ofulue III was kidnapped alongside a friend. Sequel to the report, detectives were mobilized in search of the Obi and possible arrest of the hoodlums. The Jeep in which both victims were travelling was found abandoned in the bush around Igbodo area.
“Following information from passersby that they saw suspected hoodlums entering the bush where the Jeep was recovered, vigilance men and local hunters were mobilised to join hands with the police in ensuring the rescue of the Obi and apprehension of the kidnappers. The other victim later escaped from their abductors, while efforts have been on to rescue the Obi of Ubulu-Uku.”
Governor visits Kingdom, reads riot act
Meanwhile, Governor Okowa has given detectives in the state a marching order to fish out the killers of the monarch. Okowa, in a visit to the palace last week, who described the monarch’s gruesome murder as “shocking and unfortunate,” vowed to get to the root of the matter. According to him, the security operatives in the state must unmask those involved in the heinous crime that led to his demise. The governor, accompanied by top government functionaries and politicians during a condolence visit to the palace of the late monarch in Ubulu-Uku, was received by members of the Obi-in-Council.
He lamented: “This is terrible! This is something nobody prayed for! It is unfortunately that this has happened to one of the promising traditional rulers we have in the state. It happened to a peace-builder. All the time, you see the royalty in him.
“The Police have made some arrests and with the State Security Service (SSS) and other security agencies, they are working to unravel what happened. Our country is being bedevilled by one manner of kidnapping and abduction or the other, but, we never knew that it would deteriorate to a level where a Royal Father would be abducted and murdered. It is very unfortunate.
“I have the assurance of the Commissioner of Police and the State Director of Security that they would continue with the investigation and we believe that they will get the culprits.”
The governor called for calm in the community, saying, “As we mourn, we must ensure that there is peace in the community, the youths should know that keeping the peace in the community is the best thing our late Royal Majesty would have wished, we must try as much as possible to maintain peace within the community.”
