Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has appealed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to wade into the death sentence passed on one Ifeanyi Ekoh for “kidnap and kill racket” by the Ebonyi High Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal in Enugu.
In a petition to the CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, signed by Comrade Kindness Jonah on-behalf of CLO and made available to Daily News Nigeria on Monday, the organisation alleged: “The Arragee kidnap of the 3rd Accused, and the subsequent rope in of his person to the criminal racket was 100% the making of Mr Chinedu Ogah. This arrangee arrest of the 3rd Accused – Mr Ifeanyi Ekoh culminated into his being brought to the Criminal Investigation Department-CID, Abakaliiki from SARS office, Lagos.”
Parts of the petition further read: “Civil Liberties Organization-CLO heard of the gory story on Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh and decided visiting him in Prison at Enugu Prison to get first-hand information from the horse’s mouth.
“CLO was made to understand that there was a judgment meted against one Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh, from Ihe Community, in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State, in a–kidnap-kill-and-sell body parts case involving the victim-one little Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji from Ikwo in Ebonyi State.
CLO really went into the nitty gritty of the said kidnap as well as the ingredients that informed the judgment of death sentence meted against Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh, whom CLO shall hereinafter refer to as the complaint by Ebonyi High Court.
“CLO gathered from Mr. Ifeanyi that the little Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji was killed by the 1st Accused on the advice of one Mr. Chinedu Ogah (An Ex-Convict), working by then with the wife of the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State—Chief Elechi, and her body dismembered. As civil society gladiators and people that stand in the gap for the down trodden masses, we were made to know the fact of the case and the concomitant judgment.
“The Fact of the Case: “From the Record of the Complainant to CLO- Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh. Mr Ifeanyi Ekoh is a car dealer (sales cars) in Lagos State. Around 10 August 2012, he travelled to see an acquaintance in Ebonyi State , by name Ifeanyi Igwe , from where he could go to Calabar to purchase bags of crayfish for resale at Lagos supposedly to expand his line of business. He went to Calabar with Ifeanyi Igwe his host, and purchased bags of crayfish, and left for Lagos exactly on 16 August, 2012, by Young Shall Grow Motors Limited, in a 3rd Bus, in the company of one member of the staff of Young Shall Grow by name, Ngozi who was also going to Lagos. No sooner he settled at Lagos than he was receiving series of calls from Ifeanyi Igwe, stating that he wanted to purchase car, demanding for the price, which was relayed to him. An agreement was reached for him to come for the car.
“Ironically, this was how officers from the State CID Ebonyi State picked Ifeanyi Igwe, handcuffed him, for him to identify the 3rd Accused, Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh. Right there at Doppa Filing Station, at Amowu Odofin, Lagos State. Ifeanyi Igwe appeared alongside men of SARS from Scorpion SARS Ikeja, who handcuffed Ifeanyi Ekoh, and took him to their office at Ikeja. After three days, he was taken handcuffed after series of maltreatments in the Station, to Ebonyi State to the Criminal Investigation Department-CID, Abakaliki, from where they took him to Court.
“DSS had tracked down the actual killer of Little Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji, who is the 1st Accused – Mr. Ebenezer Amaga. There at the office of DSS, Mr. Ebenezer Amaga , before ALL, confessed that :
“Mr. Ebenezer Amaga, actually kidnapped and killed the Little Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji, and dismembered her body, and distributed them to the two (2) Native Doctors in the company of the 2nd Accused: Mr. Obinna Nwuruku.
“He, Mr. Ebenezer Amaga, was expressly directed by one Mr. Chinedu Ogah, (An Ex-Convict), working by then with the wife of the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State—Chief Elechi, to do to the little Ukamaka all he did.
“Mr. Ebenezer Amaga, Mr. Chinedu Ogah an Ex-Convict as well as the 2 native doctors as well as the 2nd Accused : Mr. Obinna Nwuruku, are from the same community. Subsequently, DSS decided to transfer the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department-CID, Abakaliki. “The 3rd Accused: Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh Before the Criminal Investigation Department-CID, Abakaliki.
“Ekoh, lured the 1st Accused, Ebenzer Amaga, into kidnapping when both never knew themselves earlier before they met in prison? But, the Ebonyi State High Court did not care to unravel the identity of the said Mr. Oyi Ogobuchi since they so relied on the statement of the 1st Accused Mr. Ebenezer Amaga to condemn Mr. Ifeanyi Ekoh to death.,
“The Matter Right Now at the Supreme Court. “The 3rd Accused : Mr Ifeanyi Ekoh, appealed the ruling of the Court of Appeal Enugu to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
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“Ifeanyi Ekoh should be released unconditionally as he is most evidently innocent of the accused crime.”
