can someone school us on what's going on in Aba?
I'm reading the threads but I feel like i need background info to get what's going on. Who kidnapped who? What's with the ritualist governor vs kidnapper ex-governor?
you are welcome to post a background story in brief of what's going on in Aba for people living outside the country. further discussion is welcome

The truth is that crime has always been part of Aba but climaxed since 2007 with high level armed robbery and kidnappings.The average rate of kidnappings has been 20 persons per day but most go unreported.Some days it could be as high as 100 or as low as 5.This might sound unbelievable but it is true.Banks stopped lifting cash with bullion vans in Aba since 2008 and resorted to helicopters.Amoured bullion vans could not work in Aba because the robbers were using rocket propelled grenades and other explosives.The state government were covering things up and pretending that all has been well until the recent kidnap of 4 journalists.

Thanks a lot.

and when were the journalists kidnapped?
I thought the recent kidnappings had to do with children.
what's the conflict between the governor and ex-governor in this matter.

Wow.

oyinda.:

Thanks a lot.

and when were the journalists kidnapped?
I thought the recent kidnappings had to do with children.
what's the conflict between the governor and ex-governor in this matter.

It absolutely has nothing to do with both.The Ngwas are the majority ethnic group in Abia while Aba is the largest city.Ukwa is the only oil producing LGA in Abia state and are related to Ngwas.During Orji Kalus reign he had issues with the Ukwa/Ngwa and the youths of this area had all hope that an Ngwa would succeed Orji but were dissapointed when Orji chose another Orji from Umuahia as his successor.This issue is complex but Ngwa youths are protesting and just like any political fight some criminal youths seized the opportunity to commit crimes.Many of those involved in the kidnap crime were militants that participated actively in the riverine areas further south but were denied amnesty benefit because they come from Abia.Some of them like Ndokis were balkanized into rivers,abia and akwa-ibom states but seek for a reunion in the proposed aba state.Those from Rivers were enrolled in amnesty benefits while those from Abia were denied.

This was culled from an interview on thisday newspaper of 8 june 2009

http://allafrica.com/stories/200906090445.html

- Abia has since been overrun by criminal gangs of bullion van robbers and kidnappers. You stopped hearing about bullion van robberies because the banks now wisely move their cash by helicopters to Port Harcourt. Before then, it was a daily occurrence. The State government has its own thugs, the Bakassi Boys, paid by the government to kill and intimidate political opponents and to enforce the collection of illegal levies from poor Abians. The Nigerian Bar Association, Aba branch has cried out loud about all these but nobody would listen. Recently, the ABSEIC chairman was kidnapped. In the past two years, at least one thousand Abians have been kidnapped but you may not hear about it because they quietly pay the ransom and refuse to make noise unless it is a big fish. The night is unsafe, the day is unsafe, because government cannot protect its citizens.

Abagworo,

I take it you are a Ngwa. I would never support an Aba state.

Culled from elendureports of 16th june 2006.This was the year the crime reached its peak and has persisted until now.

http://elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=1

Menace of Armed Robbery in Abia State, the Untold Story
Written by Chidi Nwosu

   Friday, 16  June 2006
Chidi Nwosu
Over the years, I have been a vociferous critic of Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, not minding that we come from the same senatorial zone – Abia North.

. Obviously, events in the past six months in the state show that armed  robbery has spanned out of control in “God’s Own State.” There is  virtually no day, some say hour, a case of armed robbery is not recorded  in the state, particularly Aba – the commercial nerve centre. Banks,  filling stations, hotels, eateries, market shops, Bureau de Change,  motorists and residential houses have become targets of robbery  attacks. On May 12 , First Bank, Ogbor Hill, Aba, was robbed and a mobile police man attached to its security unit killed and roasted like chicken by armed bandits. Also, on May 30 , a bullion van, carrying millions of  money was intercepted and hijacked along Aba – Port Harcourt  Expressway by these dare devil robbers. An eye witness said they had  the effrontery, as they were going, to be singing, “ Chineke idi nma,  idi nma…(God you’re so good).”    Besides, on    June 1 , these sons of  Armageddon raided Mr. Bigg’s at Factory Road, and Terminus Hotels at  Azikiwe Road, all in Aba. Another robbery incident, which doubts the  doubts the presence of police in Aba, took place on June 2 , at

MaziUche0:

Abagworo,

I take it you are a Ngwa. I would never support an Aba state.

I don't know what you have with Ngwas.

Abagworo is from Orsuobodo in Imo State and resides in Port-Harcourt.I am giving a neutral account.

From tribune of january 22nd 2009



50 robbers bomb bullion van, 2 die Biola Azeez, Umuahia - 22.01.2009

ARMED robbers attacked a bullion van and its accompanying security vehicle at Arungwa junction, on the Port Harcourt-Aba expressway, three kilometres from Aba, ( on a day Governor Theodore Orji was busy inaugurating projects in Ikwuano Local Government Area), carting away unspecified amount of money. Nigerian Tribune investigations revealed that the armed robbers used dynamite to cut open the back of the bullion van belonging to a commercial bank, to get access to the money while all the policemen in the security vehicle were killed and set ablaze inside the vehicle. It was also gathered that the robbers, who first used gunshots in an attempt to open the bullion van without success, later resorted to the use of dynamite and hand grenade to blast the back of the van. The robbery operation reportedly lasted for over two hours without any interruption. Members of the state vigilance team later intervened, killing one of the armed robbers, while the rest escaped with their loot. Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), Alli Okechukwu, requested that he should be given some time to compile a report on the incident. However, when Okechukwu spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday, he said the armed robbers, numbering 50 and dressed in military and police uniforms, with bulletproof vests, killed only one policeman and the driver of the bullion van. He said that the command was still looking for some of the policemen who went on the operation at the time of filing this report. The PPRO said the armed robbers fired sporadically into the air to stop the bank’s convoy on the expressway and held it for over 30 minutes. He said the police reinforced with Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), which he said the armed robbers demobilised with the use of dynamite, executed with precision. Okechukwu said the police command later on Tuesday despatched its men with five patrol vans, together with members of the state vigilance team, to a village in Abala in the Obingwa Local Government Area of the state when it got information that the same gang of armed robbers was busy sharing their loot there. He said the armed robbers, who had already laid ambush for the policemen before their arrival in the village, set all the five patrol vehicles ablaze with the help of the villagers. over a year ago · Report

Abagworo:

I don't know what you have with Ngwas.

Abagworo is from Orsuobodo in Imo State and resides in Port-Harcourt.I am giving a neutral account.

Seriously, if not for EzeUche, I might never have heard of Ngwa and how much they are despised, desliked or hated. Sad really, nobody should go through that.

@Abagworo
I don't know whether to beg you to stop telling the story of Abia or continue. It is about the most horrible account of decay and slide into anarchy I have ever heard. Its incredible beyond words that a state in a modern country can rush toward the abyss and spiral out of control so drastically.
Jesus!

Abagworo:

I don't know what you have with Ngwas.

Abagworo is from Orsuobodo in Imo State and resides in Port-Harcourt.I am giving a neutral account.

My only problem with the Ngwa besides the criminality, is that they always scream marginalization. And it goes back to the war as well. Some of them caused a lot of problems during post war era.

Northern Igbo clans (Aro, Ohafia, Abiriba) in Abia state has always had a problem with southern Igbo clans such as the Ngwa even before the white man came.

.

Is Aba now the crime capital of Nigeria?