EXCLUSIVE(SAHARA REPORTERS): Police Accused Of Blaming IPOB To Bury Unsolved South-East Crimes

For the past five years, Nigeria's South-East region has witnessed a disturbing trend where security agencies routinely attribute violent crimes, political assassinations, community conflicts, and contentious arrests to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN). This often occurs even before comprehensive investigations are completed. However, a deeper examination involving victim's families, retired police officers, human rights activists, legal practitioners, and police records uncovers a significant failing within the country's criminal justice system. Hasty pronouncements, inadequate probes, political pressures, and alleged police misconduct are collectively obscuring accountability in some of the region's most high-profile killings. A prime example highlighted in this investigation is the murder of Chief Oyibo Chukwu, the Labour Party senatorial candidate for Enugu East. His shocking assassination just days before the 2023 general election reverberated across the nation. Over three years later, his family maintains that justice has been undermined by what they describe as a deliberate police cover-up and a politically driven diversion.

On the night of February 22, 2023, merely 48 hours before Nigeria’s presidential and National Assembly elections, Chief Oyibo Chukwu was ambushed and killed by gunmen in Amechi Awkunanaw, Enugu South Local Government Area. The attackers shot him and his aides, subsequently setting their vehicle ablaze. The deceased politician, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oji River Branch, was the Labour Party's candidate for the Enugu East Senatorial District and was widely regarded as a formidable contender against former Enugu governor and then-senator, Chimaroke Nnamani. His killing sent shockwaves throughout the state. At the time, Labour Party leaders alleged that political opponents, threatened by the party's increasing popularity, were orchestrating attacks targeting opposition figures. Chijioke Edeoga, who was the Labour Party's governorship candidate in Enugu State then, stated that party members had become victims of systematic violence. Yet, within hours of the incident, the Enugu State Police Command publicly linked the killing to "IPOB/ESN renegades." In a statement, police spokesperson DSP Daniel Ndukwe claimed that preliminary investigations indicated armed hoodlums using tricycles and Hilux vehicles attacked political targets, identifying the assailants as "subversive criminal elements suspected to be IPOB/ESN renegades." No public evidence was presented to support this claim at the time. For the Chukwu family, this immediate attribution remains one of the most troubling aspects of the case.

In an interview with SaharaReporters, Chief Lucky Chukwu, the younger brother of the late Oyibo Chukwu, accused the police of abandoning a genuine investigation to shield influential figures. "Nothing is going on," he stated, expressing disillusionment with the security agencies, particularly the police. He further alleged that security deployments in the area where his brother was killed were mysteriously withdrawn shortly before the attack. "How can you withdraw a combined team of soldiers and mobile policemen guarding that axis a day before they killed him?" he questioned, emphasizing that such a withdrawal was unprecedented. Lucky also pointed out that the governor did not issue a statement condemning the killing of his brother, but promptly visited the family of another slain politician, Dons Udeh, offering them ₦5 million. The family believes the case was deliberately redirected towards IPOB to avoid scrutiny of potential political motives. "They know what happened to my elder brother," Lucky insisted. "We are still pursuing justice, and we have involved the DSS so that the investigation can be clinical."

The controversy surrounding Oyibo Chukwu's murder is not an isolated incident. A review of several criminal cases across the South-East reveals persistent allegations that police authorities prematurely invoke the IPOB/ESN narrative, sometimes in situations where subsequent evidence appears to contradict initial claims. One such case involves Chief Dons Udeh, a former governorship aspirant in Enugu State, who was abducted in April 2023 and later found dead near the 9th Mile area of Enugu. His mobile phone was reportedly discovered outside the Ogui Police Station. Despite public outcry and protests demanding justice, the case has since faded without resolution. Similarly, in January 2022, gunmen stormed a political gathering in Obeagu Awkunanaw, killing two APC chieftains, including the party's state youth leader, Kelvin Ezeoha. His widow, Mrs. Chidimma, stated in an interview that, after four years and five months, her husband's killers have not been apprehended. She expressed conviction that his killing was politically motivated. She recounted how one Mike Ogbonna, a factional local government chairman of APC in Enugu South council area, had repeatedly urged her husband to attend the meeting on that fateful day. According to the 38-year-old mother of four, her late husband was preparing for a family meeting when Ogbonna, accompanied by two others, arrived at their home. They engaged him in a prolonged discussion before departing. No arrests or successful prosecutions have followed this incident. In July 2021, Professor Samuel Ndubisi, Director General of the Science Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), was assassinated along with his police orderly on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, a case that has also seen no public resolution. Families of victims and human rights advocates argue that these unresolved cases have eroded public trust in law enforcement. Mr. Christian Chukwu, 64, the traditional Prime Minister of Ugboka in Nkanu East LGA, was kidnapped from his residence on November 19, 2021. Despite a ransom payment of N4.5 million, his whereabouts remain unknown. His wife, Mrs. Ukamaka Chukwu, informed SaharaReporters that life has been "hellish" since the incident. She described how six armed men invaded their home, demanded his car key, and forced him into the vehicle before driving off. The kidnappers initially demanded N50 million, later reducing it to N4.5 million. She managed to raise the money, but after a harrowing experience involving multiple changes in drop-off locations, a masked man collected the ransom and instructed her to leave. Her husband was never released. His son, Chukwu James, revealed that he had reported the incident to the police, but operatives failed to act promptly, allowing the kidnappers to escape. The family of His Royal Highness, Igwe Donald Nwochi of Etiti-Ozalla Autonomous in Nkanu West LGA, has also been searching for their patriarch since December 24, 2021, when he was abducted from his hotel by unknown men in police uniform. The family paid a N2.5 million ransom, yet his whereabouts remain a mystery. His son, Prince Chisom Nwochi, stated that despite reporting the incident to various police divisions and commands, authorities appeared indifferent, and no progress has been made.

Confidential documents obtained by SaharaReporters further illustrate how criminal allegations in the South-East are sometimes downgraded or reclassified following extensive investigations. One such document is a confidential police investigation report from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja, dated February 17, 2026. This report pertained to allegations of inciting communal conflict, illegal possession of firearms, robbery, and threats to life involving parties from the Edem Nru community in Nsukka LGA. After months of inquiry, the police concluded that the matter was merely a civil land dispute already pending before the High Court. The report explicitly stated that the complainants failed to substantiate their criminal allegations. This finding supports concerns that serious criminal accusations are often leveraged in local disputes, only for investigations to later reveal them as less severe.