The Agunaechemba Vigilante Group operatives were also alleged to be operating like the dreaded Bakassi Boys and extorting N200 from every motorists at several illegal checkpoints across the state....Read Full Article >>➤
Operatives of the security outfit, Agunaechemba Vigilante Group, set up by the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, have been accused of extrajudicial killing of hundreds of innocent youths in the state.
The Agunaechemba Vigilante Group operatives were also alleged to be operating like the dreaded Bakassi Boys and extorting N200 from every motorists at several illegal checkpoints across the state.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a human rights organisation made the revelations in a report on Saturday signed by its Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi.
Intersociety stated, “Roadblock extortion and other operational corrupt practices have been spotted and identified as one of the modus operandi of the operatives of the newly renamed Agunaechemba Vigilante Group, sobriquet “Bakassi Boys”.
“Such were recently spotted by the Intersociety field volunteers in at least five different locations along Nnobi, Ichida, Awka-Etiti, Igboukwu, Uga and Umuchu road axis.
“The checks specifically took place between January 30 and 31, 2025, during which the operatives of the new dreaded outfit were sighted mounting roadblocks and forcing motorists to part with N200 notes per motorist/per trip.
“The security implications of such corrupt practices on crime detection and apprehension of suspected criminals and their criminal properties are very far-reaching.
“Apart from exposing the government’s inadequate welfare packages for members of the new outfit and glaring lack of discipline and command and control accountability, they can also facilitate an escape route for persons of under-world as it is anything goes once each motorist is forced to part with N200 note, not minding who or what the motorist is plying on the road with.”
The organisation stated, “The operations of Agunaechemba are also found to be existentially questionable and grounded in patterns and trends reminiscent of the Bakassi Boys and their inglorious epoch of 1999-2002.”
According to Intersociety, apart from demolishing buildings which it stated has no place in the country’s Criminal Code Act of 2004, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 and the Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, their operations have also been mired in guesswork, false labeling, hearsay conclusions, indiscriminate killings.
“Such as killing of unarmed and defenseless persons, abductions and disappearances of those arrested alive and hale and hearty and those critically shot and wounded.
“A typical case in point was the February 6, 2025-killing of the trio of defenseless Artisan-Citizens Malachy Chimaobi Iwuanyanwu and Odinkalu Chinonso of Umueze in Ehime-Mbano of Imo State and Citizen Kosisochukwu of Isuofia, Gov Soludo’s hometown in Aguata, Anambra State.
“Their killing took place in Owerre-Ezukala in Orumba South of Anambra State, during which not less than 12 others were abducted, stripped half naked and falsely labeled or accused of ‘being involved in kidnappings and ritual killings’.
“Among the abducted defenseless citizens in the community were three NYSC Corpers abducted at the Community’s NYSC Camp and a deformed, later freed after having been threatened and traumatized following outcries by their colleagues and locals.
“The three gruesomely murdered citizens were artisans working as POP and rot iron installers and tilers on a building site reportedly owned by an Anglican Priest.
“They were shot and killed after being dragged out of their construction site in the early morning of February 6, 2025.
“The killer-operatives of Agunaechemba Vigilante Group also labeled their site gas cylinders as “Ogbunigwe Bombs” (high caliber explosives).
“The identities of other abductees were later given as early morning hustlers including a Tipper driver in sand and stone haulage plying between Owerre-Ezukala and Ogbunka.
“Through the activation of the citizens’ vigilance and contacts, the Owerre-Ezukala Community’s WhatsApp platforms and other social media were activated, forcing the dreaded outfit to free the abductees a few days later.
“Several members of the Community also publicly disclosed that the new dreaded outfit never neared the dreaded camp of the Counterfeit Biafra Agitators and other kidnappers’ den located inside a forest between the Community (Owerre-Ezukala) and Olor in Enugu State.
“Despite the above highlighted atrocity and dastardly act, Governor Charles Soludo not only maintained conspiratorial silence but also went ahead and hailed the new dreaded outfit for ‘a job well done at Owerre-Ezukala criminal hideout operation’.”
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