New York—-Our investigation has shown that security agents including the police and State Security Services officers may be demanding bribes from relatives of kidnap victims and victims who had gone to report cases of threats against them in Anambra State, Nigeria.
Our investigation further shows that recently, a Nigerian-American based in United States sent emergency petition to Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua and US President Barack Obama after two (2) incidents whereby officers of the Nigerian Police Force, State CID Awka and State Security Services, Anambra demanded bribes in order to properly investigate and properly charge cases involving kidnapping threats among other serious allegations.
The Presidents of the two nations were alerted after a complaint including that audio tapes were lodged at the office of the Nigeria Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonnaya Onovo appear to have been suppressed.
Further, a known local criminal based in Anambra State, Nigeria had called the Nigerian-American based in US and demanded large sum of ransom money in order not to harm his relatives in Anambra State, Nigeria. The local crook and his groups had earlier called to make kidnapping threats, and boast about their connections and exploits with Nigerian police and Anambra politicians, how they kill Nigerian army and police in operation among other threats.
Anambra State is definitely under very serious seige from all sides; from armed criminals operating in broad day lights, from the government security and law enforcementby officers operating and openly demanding and collecting bribes in broad daylights, from equally heartless civilian government officials embezzling and corruptly ferring away public funds.
Nigeria-Biafran civil war ended in 1970, but the conducts of governments and security agents in the state make indigenes feel they are living in ‘occupied territory’. Security and law enforcement outfits rather than providing security see themselves as ‘occupation forces’ with rights to commit almost all sorts of impunity. Government officials rather than using funds allocated for the administration of the areas on development see themselves as chosen by the victorious power to suppress, embezzle and share those funds among the officials of the victorious powers, their surrogates and power brokers.
That, at least was not just the perception but the operating conventional practices from 1970 until 2007.
Current Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua said to be a ‘radical’ and the first university graduate to lead the African nation, self-proclaimed servant-leader seems to be have parted ways with the old grossly-inhumane order of government business in Nigeria, even though very slowly.
How far President Yar’Adua will go to put the security and law enforcement in Anambra State in line is yet to be determined.
By Africans In America News Watch