Life in detention for 88 days’
By Joy Obomase
Commercial activities at Old Market Road, Odoakp, Onitsha,
Anambra State commenced like every other day on August
1, 2013 when, all of a sudden, some stern looking
policemen arrived.
The policemen, in a commando-like manner, stormed
Upper Class Hotel, located on number eight. The
question on the lips of curious persons around was later
answered, following the news of alleged discovery of human
skulls and arms in one of the hotel rooms.
The alleged discovery led to the arrest of the owner of the
hotel, Mr Bonaventure Mokwe, and some of his staff , who
were whisked into the operatives waiting van which
zoomed off , leaving a haze of confusion in the air.
Controversy trailed the arrest and detention of Mokwe and
his staff at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, an action that
allegedly did not only violate the suspects rights but also
described as not following due process. Anambra State
government later joined the fray, directing the demolition
of the hotel.
However, Mokwe was later granted bail by the court, but
not after spending 88 days in police custody.
Describing his arrest and demolition of his hotel as a set
up, the business man in the eye of the storm , during an
interview with Sunday Vanguard, alleged that his ordeal
could not have been unconnected with a motor park
dispute between him and some Onitsha natives.
ORIGIN
Recalling the incident of August 1, 2013, Mokwe said, “
Prior to the day I was arrested and my hotel demolished
on the directive of Anambra State governor , I was
involved in a motor park dispute with some Onitsha
natives.
“Within the period , I wrote the Obi of Onitsha three times
asking him to intervene and call the natives to order but
he remained understandably silent. When that failed, I
wrote a petition to the Anambra State Commissioner of
Police which he minuted to the Onitsha Area Commander
who in turn assigned an Inspector to investigate. But
these efforts ended as soon as they started”.
He narrated further: “When that failed again, I went to
court and obtained an order which was served on the
palace of Obi of Onitsha, the police and leaders of the
Onitsha natives antagonising me. Soon after some bus
drivers started loading in my park and all hell broke loose,
as threats of all dimension started coming from the
Onitsha natives which culminated in the planting of the
exhibits in my hotel. The human skulls and magazines
were parked in a sac and planted in the wardrobe at my
hotel lodging room number 102.
“ I drove into my office around 7am that fateful day
because I had a land transaction. Before I could settle
down, my hotel was surrounded by the police numbering
over 100. As I made my way towards my office entrance,
some of them were already in the passage. I was taken
into my office and shown a search warrant.
“ In the process, one police officer betrayed the whole
adventure when he shouted at one of my staff to be shown
room 102. It did not make sense to me then. The first
thing I saw when the door of the room was opened was an
unsealed traveling bag on the floor. Some polythene bags
were inside the bag and two on the bed. Nothing was
found in the toilet and under the bed. The police then
opened the wardrobe of the room and brought out one
single Bagco sac, in which were two rotten skulls, two A.K
47 riffles that looked unserviceable and two loaded
magazines.
“The mock search exercise started and ended after five
minutes or thereabouts at the door of room 102 .
Incidentally the lodger locked the room and left with the
key around 6.30am, following which the police showed up.
“The manager informed the police that the room was sold
to one Mr John Obi, in the evening of 31st of July, 2013.
The receptionist brought the duplicate of the lodging
receipt in addition to the hotel guest manifest and both
reflected John Obi as the occupant at room 102. It is
important to point out that the hotel guest manifest had
earlier been submitted at the police station before the
arrival of the policemen to the hotel. This has been the
routine for some time now.
I was immediately handcuffed and taken outside the
corridor of the hotel, where I was told to sit next to the
exhibits while they took pictures. Soon after that, I,
alongside my staff, was taken to the police Area Command
Onitsha and paraded before the public and journalists.
CONFESSION
“We were
subsequently
taken to SARS
Awkuzu, along
with my wife
who is a
lawyer, and
detained. At
SARS, the
identity of the
person that
lodged in my
hotel room
number 102
on the very
day the police
came
searching was
unmasked. Though he gave his name as John Obi, his true
identity was that of a native of Umudie village. His
picture was smuggled and shown to the receptionist who
identified him as the person he gave the receipt of room
102 that fateful day. It was him who planted the exhibits
in the hotel room wardrobe.
“I almost died in the first two to three days at SARS. Any
confessional statement emanating from SARS Awkuzu is a
function of an individual’s pain threshold. In effect, an
innocent person can be a casualty of any sort. While
informants are very important in police work, being able to
know when a particular informant collects money to set-up
another person’s rival as in this case of mine is also
critical.
IDENTITY
“When the identity of the people that orchestrated my hotel
set-up became known even by the general public, a
petition was written by my lawyer to the Inspector-General
of Police, listing their names. But the police sat on it
because arresting them would have meant releasing me
and that would have meant a state financial liability and
embarrassment for the state government.
With the police under pressure from the media , most
especially by NIPPRON, I, along with three of my staff, was
arraigned in court on the 17th of October 2013 and a
murder charge along with possession of human skulls and
fire arms were heaped on us and we were subsequently
remanded in prison till 4th of November 2014 when we
were granted bail. I spent a total of two months and
seventeen days at SARS Awkuzu.
ROTTEN SKULLS
“A week after I arrived from SARs, it became increasingly
clear that the incident was a set-up. Matters were not
helped by what occurred when the police first took me to
the grave of one Mr Nwonye Akas, a native of Nkwuele
Ezinaka Itite village, who died in 1972 when I was still
running around naked, only for them to say I killed and
buried the man at the place.
“What is my business with rotten skulls? The police has
some questions to answer; why did they not make attempt
to arrest the person that lodged in the room, despite the
fact that guests manifesto was sent to them? If it was
real, the person who stayed in the hotel room should have
been apprehended. It would then be for him to reveal who
gave him the thing because there is no way he could have
slept in that room with all those things without knowing.
“Again, the true reason my hotel was speedily demolished
within hours of my arrest by the state government without
informing the police command is also in custody of my
lawyers. All these will be made public when the need
arises .
My hotel demolition had nothing to do with fighting crime,
as it was sold to the general public. Till date, there is no
complaint irrespective of police efforts in manufacturing
one in their bid to cover up for the Anambra State
government from its self-inflicted liability.
Details of how the murder charged was framed was blown
in the prison including a tape recording of it.
“When I was bailed, a legal officer with Anambra State
government begged my cousin to tell me to lie low until
after the elections. I obeyed. So you can see that it’s not
all about justice, it’s about what they can gain from it.
They told me to lie low that after electioneering campaign,
something would be done to address the issue, but till date
nothing has been done.
JUSTICE
The state government should sit with my lawyer or appoint
someone to sit with my lawyer and agree on how to pay
for the damages. You don’t beat somebody and tell him
not to cry. Secondly, this matter is impossible to wish
away. No amount of prayer will wish it away. I must be
paid everything. Everything I had was destroyed, including
my Green Card, in that hotel building.
Those fabricated charges should be cancelled because
they are mere damage control charges intended to fill in
the blanks, they have no bearing on me because they were
manufactured. You don’t charge one for possession when
you didn’t see anything on him. Also , you don’t charge
someone for murder when investigation has not been
done.”

PETER OBI IS A DISGRACE http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/skulls-onitsha-hotel-room-story-citizen-mokwe/

y

one of those things dat happen in life

this is bad......i can't imagine myself in this guys shoes

I knew it was a Set-up immediately I saw that Story! Its a Pity Sir! Thank God your Wife is a Lawyer! Follow this Case Diligently until You are duly Compensated!

Idoma Likita: I knew it was a Set-up immediately I saw that Story! Its a Pity Sir! Thank God your Wife is a Lawyer! Follow this Case Diligently until You are duly Compensated!

it is a setup but the man is not good man in person
state government pls pay him damages