IT is practically impossible to describe the pains on the faces of the young widows, their young dependants and relations. From the widows of Patrick Aghachi, John Obiakonwa, Sunday Okoye to Osita Okoye, it was gloom. This is the mood in Adazi-Nnukwu, a town in Anaocha local government area of Anambra state. An indigene of the town told Saturday Vanguard that such mass murder had never happened to the place
“ It is happening for the first time, and to imagine that just one community would lose over 10 people in one day is unimaginable. Look at Ugochukwu Ezenwekwe. His father died after he was killed at Mubi and his young wife put the bed just after he was killed. And just towards the end of last year, his elder brother died. He just completed his house in the village but didn’t live there before he died. To imagine that under six months, the family lost three people is incredible,”
Rose Mary Aniagbade
he said.
Adazi-Nnukwu is one of the towns that makes up Anaocha local government area of Anambra state. The town is famous for its wide and clean networks of rural roads- all products of communal efforts, thanks to an effective town union.
But this is not the best of time for this town. This is because the entire town is in great grief. The people of the town are mourning the senseless killing of 12 of their sons and a daughter, all killed on the 5th and 6th of January, 2012 in the polytechnic town of Mubi, in Adamawa State, north-east Nigeria, by the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Although 12 of the13 corpses (the remains of the only female dead had earlier been brought home by the Management of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi and deposited in a mortuary in the state) were brought home in a luxury bus accompanied by catholic priests, government officials and Igbo leaders living in Mubi for burial on Wednesday, 26th of January, 2012, the burial and funeral could not take place as originally planned because Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state was unavoidably absent.
As a result, the burial was postponed to 2nd February, 2012. The corpses were therefore deposited at a private mortuary in Adazi-Nnukwu. This did not go down well with the community as leaving the dead unburied merely left the pains of the tragedy unabated.
LILIAN AMECHI ONUNKIKA
Saturday Vanguard reporter had encounters with seven widows of the Mubi massacre. Watching their tears and listening to their tales could break the heart of the bravest of men. Why would men pick guns and mow down fellow human beings who had done them no wrong? This was the one million dollar question that stubbornly refused to leave the reporter’s mind days after his visit to Adazi-Nnukwu and his encounter with the widows and children of the victims of one of the most horrible acts in Nigeria’s history.
How the killings began
His first port of call was the home of the late Mr. Simeon Asor. Locating the house was one of the easiest things in the world. The compound was adjacent to the Eke Adazi-Nnukwu market. Mrs. Asor is a young woman of about 38 year old and has five children, two are already in secondary school.
His first port of call was the home of the late Mr. Simeon Asor. Locating the house was one of the easiest things in the world. The compound was adjacent to the Eke Adazi-Nnukwu market. Mrs. Asor is a young woman of about 38 year old and has five children, two are already in secondary school.
At the time of the reporter’s encounter with her, she had recovered enough from what she described as a haunting nightmare to relate her pathetic and heart-rending encounter with demons from the pit of hell. She said, “My husband was shot and killed at a bar in Mubi on the 5th of January, 2012 along with one other person. But the police said the killers were suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram Sect.
Several persons were wounded in the incident (four of whom died later). The incident was initially hidden from me that day but I was eventually told the truth. The next morning, members of my town union came to commiserate with me over the loss of my husband and to make plans on how to take the remains to the village for proper burial in line with
FRANCISCA ASOR
tradition.”
This reporter also learnt that another meeting was simultaneously taking place at a different location – the Igbo town Hall in Mubi. The meeting was attended by members of the Igbo community living in Mubi. The aim was to discuss the incident of the previous day and a similar one that took place in the market about a week ago when members of the sect attacked and killed four Igbo traders with some sustaining injuries. This meeting was later suspended when news filtered in on Mr. Simeon Asor.
And that was how the stage was set for one of the worst massacres of the Boko Haram killing machine. The meeting of the Adazi people was already in session at the compound of the late Mr. Simeon Asor when the gun men landed. Outside the compound, they shot at two men who were exchanging pleasantries.
The two men had survived the attack of the previous day and were discussing their experiences and thanking God for saving their lives. They were shot and killed instantly. One of them was the Mubi Branch Manager of Diamond Bank. His driver (still in the car), a non Igbo, was also killed. A fourth man was about entering the compound when he heard the shots. He took to his heels. One of the killers followed in hot pursuit. But the man escaped.
They now entered the compound. They ordered the men to lie down and started shooting them point black on the head. Some ran away and escaped with bullet wounds. All the while, Mrs. Asor and other women in the compound who watched the shooting were shouting and wailing at the top of their voices for help.
EUGENIA OKPALA.
But the help never came until the demons ran out of bullets and took off in their motor-bike. One of the survivors was shot in the mouth and the killer was about shooting him again in the head when he discovered that his gun was empty. He is currently recuperating in a London hospital, courtesy of his relatives.
Cattle story was a lie
Mrs. Asor was pained by the terrible lie that her husband was killed as a result of dispute with the Cattle Dealers Association. “ It is a big lie.This was fabricated as a cover up as my husband traded only in men’s wears and had nothing to do with cattle trading. I don’t know where the investigators got their false story. It was a lie calculated to mask the ethno-religious killing of my husband and his kinsmen who had assembled to give me moral support.”
Mrs. Asor was pained by the terrible lie that her husband was killed as a result of dispute with the Cattle Dealers Association. “ It is a big lie.This was fabricated as a cover up as my husband traded only in men’s wears and had nothing to do with cattle trading. I don’t know where the investigators got their false story. It was a lie calculated to mask the ethno-religious killing of my husband and his kinsmen who had assembled to give me moral support.”
It was a double loss for the Aforkas. Mr. Aforka lost his wife, Mrs. Amaka Aforka, a non-teaching staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. He also lost his elder brother of the same parentage, Mr. Osita Aforka (popularly called Enyi because of his huge size) to the satanic act. Mrs. Amaka Aforka had come to commiserate with her sister, Mrs. Asor when she met her untimely end.
How Osita Aforka died
Mrs. Osita Aforka who had left Mubi for the village a day before the tragic incident had called her husband to confirm whether it was true that Simeon Aforka was dead. Osita told his wife that he was not aware but would check. That
Mrs. Osita Aforka who had left Mubi for the village a day before the tragic incident had called her husband to confirm whether it was true that Simeon Aforka was dead. Osita told his wife that he was not aware but would check. That
VICTORIA EZENWANKWE
Friday, Mrs. Aforka received the last call from her beloved husband. Osita called from the late Asor’s house.
He told his wife that he was at Simeon Asor’s home and that it was indeed true that Simeon had passed on. That was around 11am. An hour later or so, she received the news of the killings. Quickly, she dialed her husband’s number. The phone rang endlessly.
It quickly dawned on her that she had become a widow when he did not pick. This was in spite of the lies told to her by relatives that Osita was merely wounded in the attack by the terrorists and could not pick her call as he was receiving treatment.
Her fears were confirmed in the evening when the family told her the hard truth. Regarding another propaganda making the rounds that it was the Adazi people that murdered their own kinsmen over a chieftaincy tussle, she said it was very heartless of the peddlers of such stories as there was no chieftaincy tussle in the first instance. The fabricators and their sponsors were merely running away from the tragic reality of what has become Nigeria.
As this reporter moved from one victim’s compound to the other along with three other sympathizers, one could feel the pulse of the community in mourning. Even the trees and shrubs passed on the road were in mourning.Their branches and leaves stood still throughout the period of the reporter’s stay in the village.
The fair complexion wife of the late Bede Aniagbado, a staff of the Medical Unit of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, shook her head endlessly throughout the duration of the visit to her house, saying nothing.
As for the young wife of the late Ugochukwu Ezenwekwe, you could read the misery on her face. She had given birth two days after the massacre. She also lost her father in-law same day she was delivered She had escaped from the town of Mubi along with thousands of other non indigenes following the killings.
WIDOWED BY BOKO HARAM
The extremists had warned southerners and Christians living in northern Nigeria to leave the region within three days. Now they have left no one in doubt of their capabilities. Another painful case was that of one of the survivors of the market shooting who was still nursing a bullet wound. He was also killed in the massacre at the late Simeon Asor’s compound.
But it was not only Adazi-Nnukwu community that is in mourning. At neighbouring Enugwu-Agidi, a town in Njikoka LGA of Anambra state, a young man was buried three days back. He was shot dead along with three other Igbos by the Boko Haram sect members at Potiskum in Yobe State while escaping from Maiduguri- a city that has been taken over by the Islamists. He was said to be planning for his marriage. The entire Igbo nation is also in mourning. Hundreds of their sons and daughters have been slaughtered in various killing fields of the sect: Damaturu, Potiskum, Kano , Bauchi, Suleja, Madalla and several other places.
Those who escaped with their lives returned with only the clothes on their bodies. It is lamentation everywhere. Many lost everything. Everywhere you go, it’s like refugees escaping from the onslaught of the men with warped minds. Many likened the situation to the 1966 pogrom that culminated in the civil war that consumed over a million lives, mostly Igbos.
The authorities still have plenty of time to take drastic actions to bring the killings to an end. Until a solution is found, palliative measures need to be put in place to compensate the relatives of the victims and to re-rehabilitate the refugees and the displaced. On a positive note, the widows were said to have received the sum of N1m each from the government of Adamawa state for funeral expenses. This is quite commendable.
IT is practically impossible to describe the pains on the faces of the young widows, their young dependants and relations. From the widows of Patrick Aghachi, John Obiakonwa, Sunday Okoye to Osita Okoye, it was gloom. This is the mood in Adazi-Nnukwu, a town in Anaocha local government area of Anambra state. An indigene of the town told Saturday Vanguard that such mass murder had never happened to the place
“ It is happening for the first time, and to imagine that just one community would lose over 10 people in one day is unimaginable. Look at Ugochukwu Ezenwekwe. His father died after he was killed at Mubi and his young wife put the bed just after he was killed. And just towards the end of last year, his elder brother died. He just completed his house in the village but didn’t live there before he died. To imagine that under six months, the family lost three people is incredible,”
Rose Mary Aniagbade
he said.
Adazi-Nnukwu is one of the towns that makes up Anaocha local government area of Anambra state. The town is famous for its wide and clean networks of rural roads- all products of communal efforts, thanks to an effective town union.
But this is not the best of time for this town. This is because the entire town is in great grief. The people of the town are mourning the senseless killing of 12 of their sons and a daughter, all killed on the 5th and 6th of January, 2012 in the polytechnic town of Mubi, in Adamawa State, north-east Nigeria, by the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Although 12 of the13 corpses (the remains of the only female dead had earlier been brought home by the Management of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi and deposited in a mortuary in the state) were brought home in a luxury bus accompanied by catholic priests, government officials and Igbo leaders living in Mubi for burial on Wednesday, 26th of January, 2012, the burial and funeral could not take place as originally planned because Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state was unavoidably absent.
As a result, the burial was postponed to 2nd February, 2012. The corpses were therefore deposited at a private mortuary in Adazi-Nnukwu. This did not go down well with the community as leaving the dead unburied merely left the pains of the tragedy unabated.
LILIAN AMECHI ONUNKIKA
Saturday Vanguard reporter had encounters with seven widows of the Mubi massacre. Watching their tears and listening to their tales could break the heart of the bravest of men. Why would men pick guns and mow down fellow human beings who had done them no wrong? This was the one million dollar question that stubbornly refused to leave the reporter’s mind days after his visit to Adazi-Nnukwu and his encounter with the widows and children of the victims of one of the most horrible acts in Nigeria’s history.
How the killings began
His first port of call was the home of the late Mr. Simeon Asor. Locating the house was one of the easiest things in the world. The compound was adjacent to the Eke Adazi-Nnukwu market. Mrs. Asor is a young woman of about 38 year old and has five children, two are already in secondary school.
His first port of call was the home of the late Mr. Simeon Asor. Locating the house was one of the easiest things in the world. The compound was adjacent to the Eke Adazi-Nnukwu market. Mrs. Asor is a young woman of about 38 year old and has five children, two are already in secondary school.
At the time of the reporter’s encounter with her, she had recovered enough from what she described as a haunting nightmare to relate her pathetic and heart-rending encounter with demons from the pit of hell. She said, “My husband was shot and killed at a bar in Mubi on the 5th of January, 2012 along with one other person. But the police said the killers were suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram Sect.
Several persons were wounded in the incident (four of whom died later). The incident was initially hidden from me that day but I was eventually told the truth. The next morning, members of my town union came to commiserate with me over the loss of my husband and to make plans on how to take the remains to the village for proper burial in line with
FRANCISCA ASOR
tradition.”
This reporter also learnt that another meeting was simultaneously taking place at a different location – the Igbo town Hall in Mubi. The meeting was attended by members of the Igbo community living in Mubi. The aim was to discuss the incident of the previous day and a similar one that took place in the market about a week ago when members of the sect attacked and killed four Igbo traders with some sustaining injuries. This meeting was later suspended when news filtered in on Mr. Simeon Asor.
And that was how the stage was set for one of the worst massacres of the Boko Haram killing machine. The meeting of the Adazi people was already in session at the compound of the late Mr. Simeon Asor when the gun men landed. Outside the compound, they shot at two men who were exchanging pleasantries.
The two men had survived the attack of the previous day and were discussing their experiences and thanking God for saving their lives. They were shot and killed instantly. One of them was the Mubi Branch Manager of Diamond Bank. His driver (still in the car), a non Igbo, was also killed. A fourth man was about entering the compound when he heard the shots. He took to his heels. One of the killers followed in hot pursuit. But the man escaped.
They now entered the compound. They ordered the men to lie down and started shooting them point black on the head. Some ran away and escaped with bullet wounds. All the while, Mrs. Asor and other women in the compound who watched the shooting were shouting and wailing at the top of their voices for help.
EUGENIA OKPALA.
But the help never came until the demons ran out of bullets and took off in their motor-bike. One of the survivors was shot in the mouth and the killer was about shooting him again in the head when he discovered that his gun was empty. He is currently recuperating in a London hospital, courtesy of his relatives.
Cattle story was a lie
Mrs. Asor was pained by the terrible lie that her husband was killed as a result of dispute with the Cattle Dealers Association. “ It is a big lie.This was fabricated as a cover up as my husband traded only in men’s wears and had nothing to do with cattle trading. I don’t know where the investigators got their false story. It was a lie calculated to mask the ethno-religious killing of my husband and his kinsmen who had assembled to give me moral support.”
Mrs. Asor was pained by the terrible lie that her husband was killed as a result of dispute with the Cattle Dealers Association. “ It is a big lie.This was fabricated as a cover up as my husband traded only in men’s wears and had nothing to do with cattle trading. I don’t know where the investigators got their false story. It was a lie calculated to mask the ethno-religious killing of my husband and his kinsmen who had assembled to give me moral support.”
It was a double loss for the Aforkas. Mr. Aforka lost his wife, Mrs. Amaka Aforka, a non-teaching staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. He also lost his elder brother of the same parentage, Mr. Osita Aforka (popularly called Enyi because of his huge size) to the satanic act. Mrs. Amaka Aforka had come to commiserate with her sister, Mrs. Asor when she met her untimely end.
How Osita Aforka died
Mrs. Osita Aforka who had left Mubi for the village a day before the tragic incident had called her husband to confirm whether it was true that Simeon Aforka was dead. Osita told his wife that he was not aware but would check. That
Mrs. Osita Aforka who had left Mubi for the village a day before the tragic incident had called her husband to confirm whether it was true that Simeon Aforka was dead. Osita told his wife that he was not aware but would check. That
VICTORIA EZENWANKWE
Friday, Mrs. Aforka received the last call from her beloved husband. Osita called from the late Asor’s house.
He told his wife that he was at Simeon Asor’s home and that it was indeed true that Simeon had passed on. That was around 11am. An hour later or so, she received the news of the killings. Quickly, she dialed her husband’s number. The phone rang endlessly.
It quickly dawned on her that she had become a widow when he did not pick. This was in spite of the lies told to her by relatives that Osita was merely wounded in the attack by the terrorists and could not pick her call as he was receiving treatment.
Her fears were confirmed in the evening when the family told her the hard truth. Regarding another propaganda making the rounds that it was the Adazi people that murdered their own kinsmen over a chieftaincy tussle, she said it was very heartless of the peddlers of such stories as there was no chieftaincy tussle in the first instance. The fabricators and their sponsors were merely running away from the tragic reality of what has become Nigeria.
As this reporter moved from one victim’s compound to the other along with three other sympathizers, one could feel the pulse of the community in mourning. Even the trees and shrubs passed on the road were in mourning.Their branches and leaves stood still throughout the period of the reporter’s stay in the village.
The fair complexion wife of the late Bede Aniagbado, a staff of the Medical Unit of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, shook her head endlessly throughout the duration of the visit to her house, saying nothing.
As for the young wife of the late Ugochukwu Ezenwekwe, you could read the misery on her face. She had given birth two days after the massacre. She also lost her father in-law same day she was delivered She had escaped from the town of Mubi along with thousands of other non indigenes following the killings.
WIDOWED BY BOKO HARAM
The extremists had warned southerners and Christians living in northern Nigeria to leave the region within three days. Now they have left no one in doubt of their capabilities. Another painful case was that of one of the survivors of the market shooting who was still nursing a bullet wound. He was also killed in the massacre at the late Simeon Asor’s compound.
But it was not only Adazi-Nnukwu community that is in mourning. At neighbouring Enugwu-Agidi, a town in Njikoka LGA of Anambra state, a young man was buried three days back. He was shot dead along with three other Igbos by the Boko Haram sect members at Potiskum in Yobe State while escaping from Maiduguri- a city that has been taken over by the Islamists. He was said to be planning for his marriage. The entire Igbo nation is also in mourning. Hundreds of their sons and daughters have been slaughtered in various killing fields of the sect: Damaturu, Potiskum, Kano , Bauchi, Suleja, Madalla and several other places.
Those who escaped with their lives returned with only the clothes on their bodies. It is lamentation everywhere. Many lost everything. Everywhere you go, it’s like refugees escaping from the onslaught of the men with warped minds. Many likened the situation to the 1966 pogrom that culminated in the civil war that consumed over a million lives, mostly Igbos.
The authorities still have plenty of time to take drastic actions to bring the killings to an end. Until a solution is found, palliative measures need to be put in place to compensate the relatives of the victims and to re-rehabilitate the refugees and the displaced. On a positive note, the widows were said to have received the sum of N1m each from the government of Adamawa state for funeral expenses. This is quite commendable.
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