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Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) - Crime - Nairaland

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Remembering Otokoto, The Greatest Money Ritualist Of All Times In Igboland / The Story Of Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996 & Growing Menace Of "Yahoo Pl / History The Story Of Otokoto Money Ritual Killing Of 1996 In Owerri, Imo State (2) (3) (4)

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Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by anyimontana(m): 4:56pm On Dec 15, 2017
Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings of 1996

One Thursday over 20 years ago, on the 19th of September 1996, during the brutal regime of the late General Sani Abacha, something happened in Nigeria that shocked the entire world. In the usually calm and serene city of Owerri, capital of the country’s southeastern state of Imo, an 11-year-old boy named Anthony Ikechukwu Okoronkwo was meandering his way through the streets of the city with his precious tray of merchandise playfully balanced on his head. The little boy was hawking boiled groundnuts, which was his routine, the same condemned destiny for millions of other Nigerian kids today. But in his infantile innocence, the little boy was only doing what he was ordered to do by his parents. He strolled along, selling his groundnuts for peanuts to whoever wanted to buy. When he got to Amakohia area of Owerri, his eyes lit up with joy as a customer beckoned on him to approach. That ‘customer’ was named Innocent Ekeanyanwu, aged 32.

The boy was called into the famous Otokoto Hotel and the little groundnut seller was visibly very excited, since it was a hotel, it meant that the new ‘customer’ would probably be buying plenty groundnuts which will mean more money to take home to make his parents happy and assist his struggling family. As he sauntered into the central lobby and reception area of the hotel, he must have given a cute boyish smile as he was told to sit and wait a bit. While waiting, the boy was treated like a guest, he was given a bottle of Coca-Cola to cool off from the punishing heat of tropical Africa. As every innocent boy of his age would react, he quickly took the bottle of Coke and gulped it down with relish.

For many Nigerian kids, drinking a bottle of Coca-Cola inside the lobby of a hotel was more than a dream come true. Made to feel at home, he must have been wondering how nice his new and unusually receptive customers were. As he was sipping his soft drink and taking a look at the glittering surrounding of the hotel, he could have imagined having a hotel of his own too later in the future. As he was dreaming, his vision became blurry and the sounds around him became muzzled and dull. In a matter of minutes, he dozed off, never to wake up again. His tray full of groundnuts was lying in a corner.
Observing the boy from a safe distance was the man who had called him to buy his groundnuts. He had spiked the boy’s drink and once he saw he was asleep, he took the limp body of the drugged lad into one of the hotel rooms and what followed next remains one of the most evil things anyone can ever dream up. A sharp cutlass emerged from nowhere and the boy’s head was severed from his body. He was beheaded in a matter of minutes. Passersby outside the hotel had absolutely no idea of what was going on inside the ‘high-brow’ hotel. After the boy’s head was cut off, they proceeded to disembowel his torso and removed his liver and other parts they needed. They were not done yet, his genitals were not spared as well. After he was done butchering the boy, he sorted out the organs, packed his head inside a polythene bag and they made a shallow grave where they hurriedly buried his mangled remains. Of course, the boy’s parents somewhere in the city had no idea their little boy had just been gruesomely murdered. Ekeanyanwu then took the polythene bag containing the head and headed for the next destination: to the house of the man who needed the fresh head.



THE OTOKOTO HOTEL

At the time of its existence, Otokoto Hotel was located in an upscale area of Owerri, specifically the Amakohia side, and it was a favourite location for the rich and wealthy youths to meet, drink and have all manners of fun. Duru’s hotel was made up of three buildings, (three, five and six stories each, one behind the other). It was owned by Chief Vincent Duru, the father of Obidiozor Duru, the leader of the Black Scorpions secret cult responsible for a spate of robberies and kidnapping of children in the state. All of Owerri placed the Durus under their radar and surveillance, with rumours all over the place about their nefarious activities.

Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by anyimontana(m): 4:57pm On Dec 15, 2017
BACKGROUND TO THE STORY

Before this horrible incident, the people of Owerri (Ndi Owerre) were already very mad at the bizarre actions of some loud, extremely powerful and obscenely wealthy individuals in the state. These people were highly-connected and oppressed everyone where they went. Rumours were all over the place as to their very dark dealings and even the possibility of ritual murders and killings but no one really had any hard evidence yet or probably those who had it were too jittery to say anything. Whatever the case, these rich people who had no really tangible or easily traceable sources of wealth kept on living large and instilling an atmosphere of terror and fear on the Owerri populace. This was how Owerri was described at that time:

‘Luxurious commodities also became available in Owerri during the early 1990s, but mostly through a set of exclusive shops. These shops catered to members of their owners’ class: the newly affluent and generally youthful social elites of the town. Besides the arrival of airplanes in Owerri’s skies for the first time since Federalist bombing attacks during the late 1960s, the town’s bicycles and decrepit Peugeot 504 taxis now shared its potholed streets with the extraordinarily expensive automobiles and sports utility vehicles of the nouveaux riches. While the poorest Owerri indigenes listened to Igbo-languages programs on their radios and visited more wealthy relatives to watch frequently disrupted local television programming or videos, the town’s mansions were equipped with generators providing constant power, satellite dishes, video discs, and giant-screen televisions showing current international news, business reports, dramas, sitcoms, and music and movie programming from Great Britain and the United States.

By 1996, Ndi Owerre (Owerri indigenes) could, indeed, see what they had been missing before airport prosperity, but for most of them this was little more than a glimpse through the ornate gates of elite mansions or into shops whose goods had price tags the equivalent of several months’ earnings. Since a number of the town’s parvenu millionaires were not ndi owerre themselves, old ideals of reciprocity between wealthy and poorer clan members did not seem to apply under the new regime. This lack of reciprocity was especially felt as the young elites took titles and demonstrated their dollar/naira power at public, ‘cultural’ events like masquerade outings, weddings and funerals. Successful business entrepreneurship in 1990s….build lavish houses, and flaunt their riches in the faces of their suffering neighbours. When the question was posed about the origins of such untoward wealth, two possibilities beyond legitimate entrepreneurship presented themselves to the Owerri imaginary. First, the money could be the ill-gotten gains of Nigeria’s emerging culture of drug couriership and weapons sales. Second, and even more frighteningly, the money could be the product of the worst type of crime: the direct exploitation of children, whether as targets for parental extortion or as targets for money magic, a practice otherwise known in Nigerian Anglophone circles as’ritual murder’.’

That was a description of the atmosphere of Owerri of that time. And yes, the oppression by the wealthy was real. They flaunted their questionable wealth in the most nauseating manner, took all the chieftaincy titles, moved around with armed teams of police and soldiers harassing everyone on the roads, their cars had special and customized plates and any motorist who dared to protest got the beating of his life. These gods were virtually untouchable until everything scattered.

When the people heard of what happened inside the hotel to the boy, Owerri exploded with anger and resentment that had been piling up for years. For two straight days, the people of Owerri trooped out in their thousands, protesting and rioting. Not even the strong-arm tactics of the Imo State military administrator, Colonel Tanko Zubair, could stop them (the administration of the former military governor Navy Captain James Aneke was already seen as corrupt, 419-based and even complicit in the protection of the Otokoto men while he was in office). They simply ran amok and the national and international media focused on the Owerri riots of 24th and 25th of September, 1996, also known as the Otokoto riots, the people felt they had had more than enough.

Any property suspected to belong to the ’Otokoto men’ were set ablaze, from posh hotels to luxury supermarkets, their flashy automobiles, palatial mansions, everything was destroyed and burnt to the ground. A more detailed description of the riots is given in the subsequent sections. Any suspected member of the Otokoto gang was lynched. Prior to the riots, the youthful members of the Otokoto gang and other secret societies (believed to be offshoots of campus secret cults) involved in ritual killings went everywhere oppressing others with their ill-gotten wealth making other hardworking youths look clueless and silly. The mob action of the Owerri people was described thus by Declan Okpalaeke in the Echoes of Otokoto below:

‘Members of the irate mob arrogated to themselves the power of the judge and jury. It was for them, apparently, an opportunity for a putsch, for a cleansing of their once peaceful town. And they went about it with maddening fury. They pointed out magnificent buildings within the city suspected to belong to fraudsters and kidnappers. And once fingered, such buildings were marched upon were marched upon and torched with exotic cars and other properties destroyed, their owners pronounced guilty by the mob. As the crowd moved from one part of the town to another, more people joined in the act of fury and more victims fell to its jungle justice.’

The Owerri public had no faith in the police and as a matter of fact, the commissioner of police at that time, David Abure, was seen as the personification of corruption who wined and dined with the evil ones. But how did the news of the brutal hotel killings leak out to the public?

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by anyimontana(m): 5:04pm On Dec 15, 2017
OWERRI EXPLODES: THE SHOCKING DISCOVERY

After the grisly murder of the little Okoronkwo by Mr. Innocent Ekeanyanwu (what a name, innocent indeed), he left the hotel to deliver the head where it was needed. It was the motorcycle operator named Opara who took him to his destination in Eziama who realized that was his passenger was carrying inside the polythene bag was actually a fresh human head. It was still dripping with blood. When he alighted, the motorcyclist alerted the police who then intercepted Ekeanyanwu on his way back in a Peugeot 504 car, he was carrying the head with him in the polythene bag. Opara would later testify in court.

With the motorcycle he took earlier, he was going to the residence of a highly-influential figure named Chief Leonard Unaogu at Eziama, Ikeduru Local Council Area with the head but upon arriving, he was told Mr. Unaogu had gone to Lagos. So Ekeanyanwu had no other option but to return to Owerri with the boy’s head. When it was time to take the headless body of Ikechukwu to the local mortuary, Owerri residents trooped out of their homes, it was a massive procession and they protested all the way. They stayed around and within the hotel premises and waited for the police to confirm that it was indeed a ritual murder. Some other Owerri residents kept watch in front of the medical center, watching everything and also waiting for the confirmation of a ritual murder from either the morgue or the police. But the notice was to eventually come from the Imo State television station. Suspicion was already thick in the air and anyone could smell the tension. It was Owerri people versus some of the most devilish forms of humanity in their midst.

It was in this midst of this tension that the local media station made its miscalculation. They showed the image of Innocent Ekeanyanwu holding the head of his victim. The goal of the media was to assure the people, assuage public fear, ask the public to help identify the boy and show official transparency but what followed next was a catastrophe. All hell broke loose as the enraged people of Owerri went haywire after the image was first broadcast on the 24th of September. All Owerri residents abandoned their businesses and congregated at the town’s central marketplace. It was there they decided on the next plan of action and outlined their strategies to deal with the Otokoto ‘headhunters’. The news spread rapidly and before long, every home in Owerri had either of the news or seen the image of Okoronkwo’s head or his shallow grave. Unemployed and disgruntled young men took over the parks and issued threats to the Owerri millionaires. From the Owerri main market, the riots exploded and spread.

The pattern of destruction was neat. The rampaging crowd first went to the morgue and from there, they rushed to the Otokoto Hotel and burnt it to the ground. From there, they went to the nearby palatial mansion of Chief Vincent Duru and destroyed his property, his expensive cars were wrecked and Duru himself narrowly escaped. From there, the crowd split into attack groups and spread out to other sites of the priviledged elite and unleashed maximum destruction. The well-known Piano Plaza and Stores, alongside another hotel, Chibet Hotel, and various businesses linked to the Otokoto and their associates were utterly destroyed. The Zubairu-led government later confiscated all the property as recommended by the panel which was headed by Justice PC Onumajuru.

From there, they rushed to the palace of the traditional ruler and chairman of the state council of traditional rulers, Eze Onu Egwu Nwoke (later indicted alongside Aneke and Abure by the panel of inquiry) and burnt down his residence and his petrol station, they also destroyed the king’s 15 airconditioners and many of his cars. They were not done yet, from there, the crowd ‘troops’ headed for the residences of former Imo State officials. These administrators were targeted because of what was described as ‘their alleged unwillingness to properly tackle several cases of ritual murder, kidnapping and robbery while in office.’ The angry rioters only agreed to calm down when the military administrator (MILAD) assured them that a full, state-level investigation of the incident was going to be launched.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by anyimontana(m): 5:05pm On Dec 15, 2017
THE INVESTIGATIONS

Following the arrest of Ekeanyanwu, he was remanded in police custody while awaiting trial. But while he was in the police custody, magic happened as usual, he was killed by food poisoning. He killed the boy on Thursday and by Sunday morning, the 22nd of September, he was found dead in police custody and by Monday morning, the news of his death was already spreading throughout Owerri.

But luckily for the interrogators, before he was killed, Ekeanyanwu confessed and mentioned Leonard Unaogu as the brain behind the ritual killing syndicate. He confessed that the ritual killing ring was a well-organized machine that specialized in the harvesting of human body parts and sold them to those interested in using them for rituals and all the usual nonsense they claimed to be using them for. He also said it was Unaogu who ordered him to get a human head.

Some reports indicate that the Otokoto saga (as the ritual killing came to be known) had been in place as far back as 1976. Confessional statements also show that no one was spared at the Otokoto Hotel. Innocent guests and unsuspecting travellers who lodged at the hotel were drugged or attacked in the middle of their sleep and hacked to death after which they were cut into pieces for sale.

Police officers who swooped upon the hotel discovered not only the shallow grave containing that of the little boy but also graves containing other victims with their decomposing and dismembered corpses. No one knows the exact number of bodies exhumed at Otokoto Hotel, with figures varying from 8 to two dozen. Some were buried at inconspicuous locations such as under the flowerbeds. Such evil, such horror!

The man that Ekeanyanwu mentioned before he was poisoned to death, Leonard Unaogu, was known in the society as a business tycoon. Everyone knew him. But that was not all. His junior brother, Laz Unaogu, was a serving minister under the General Abacha regime. The brother of a serving federal minister was implicated in the beheading of a poor boy, it was a classic case of the rich against the oppressed and poor Nigerian majority. Leonard Unaogu was eventually arrested by the police when Duru claimed that police officers had told him that the late Ekeanyanwu had confessed that Unaogu commissioned the killing. He was arrested and made to face the judicial commission of inquiry and eventually held in prison, charged with murder. It seemed the government really wanted the culprits or at least someone punished because the people of Owerri were ready to pounce on anyone should they be released to go free.

But the people of Owerri made their voices heard, they pursued the case till the very end. In fact, the Otokoto case can be seen as the case of the Owerri people versus the Otokoto Seven (as the seven principal suspects were called). The police arrested Unaogu and when he was quizzed, he lied with a straight face that he never knew anyone called Innocent Ekeanyanwu and that he was not even in Owerri when the crime was committed, saying he was in Lagos. He would later say the same thing in court only for the presiding judge to brush it aside as nonsense saying his location when the offence was committed was irrelevant to the matter at hand.

Ekeanyanwu, who murdered the boy, was aged 32 and he worked as a gardener inside the Otokoto Hotel. When he died of food poisoning, the Imo State Police Commissioner released a press statement with the speed of light saying the police knew nothing about it saying there was no foul play. This irresponsible talk from the police chief enraged the Owerri youths, who promptly returned to streets demanding justice for the slain boy. This time around, they were determined more than ever to find their own evidence of ritual murder.

They invaded the homes of ‘suspected dealers in human body parts’ sniffing around for hard evidence which they reportedly found in one of the houses. The churches were not spared too, especially the new-breed evangelical churches, with their main target being the Overcomers Christian Mission along Wetheral where it was rumoured that human skulls were discovered with charms and amulets but the police later said what was found there were various animal skulls, pots full of vulture and other feathers, chalk, red candles, books on mystic subjects, photographs, cowries, objects shaped like human beings and bottles that contained unspecified powders and herbal preparations.

Energized by their success at this discovery, the protesters marched on other churches, a lodge and even an ashram. All the churches popular with the millionaires of Owerri were attacked and destroyed. Only Winners Chapel narrowly escaped as it had been surrounded by battle-ready police officers. By the time the storm calmed on the 27th of September, 26 buildings and several cars had been destroyed. It was a barbarous scene and the savagery mixed with the brutality was clearly evident in the destruction. All the Otokoto suspects were remanded in the Owerri federal prisons during trial.

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by rosy1992(f): 5:14pm On Dec 15, 2017
This is an educative article .
Nice one

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by Evidence1000(m): 5:19pm On Dec 15, 2017
kiss
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by SleekHoyeen(f): 5:42pm On Dec 15, 2017
Wow! Good job OP.

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by oderemo(m): 6:12pm On Dec 15, 2017
Can you finish the article please.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by HtwoOw: 6:38pm On Dec 15, 2017
Make I follow


They been doing rituals since the 70s and they call people skull miners


I no mention name o

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by princefunmmy(m): 7:58pm On Dec 15, 2017
We Humans are the Devils to ourselves... Whatelse will the devil do that these ones haven't done

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by catwalq(f): 8:09pm On Dec 15, 2017
An interesting read. Nice work.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by meezynetwork(m): 9:20pm On Dec 15, 2017
Interesting
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by OgatheTop: 9:42pm On Dec 15, 2017
Bleep Buhari
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by AuroraB(f): 8:19am On Dec 16, 2017
HtwoOw:
Make I follow


They been doing rituals since the 70s and they call people skull miners


I no mention name o
Unlike 'others', the people of Owerri proclaimed instant justice and quelled the brazen crimes against the wishes of enforcement agencies wink
There's a BIG difference.
So, go take a very low seat at the back with your myopic reasoning cool


@topic, is Amakohia really an upscale part of Owerri? Methinks issa fringe? And the otokoto man may have chosen that location to blur his evil deeds.

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Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by fiftynaira(m): 8:59am On Dec 16, 2017
I was a kid then i could remember in nostaliga when it happened.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by olaolaking: 10:35am On Dec 16, 2017
rosy1992:
This is an educative article .
Nice one
Not educative but informative

1 Like

Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by earthsync(f): 11:24am On Dec 16, 2017
but seriously how would a human body parts generate money? undecided that is some myth ignoramuses still believe in this 21st century that killing a person to use their head or whatever would make it vomit money is just plain bullshite except maybe they illegal sell their victims organs to the black market which I doubt these people do because they're ignorant like that (not say it is good) but still it's bullshït
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by anibirelawal(m): 12:07pm On Dec 16, 2017
embarassed
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by postemail: 3:56pm On Dec 16, 2017
earthsync:
but seriously how would a human body parts generate money? undecided that is some myth ignoramuses still believe in this 21st century that killing a person to use their head or whatever would make it vomit money is just plain bullshite except maybe they illegal sell their victims organs to the black market which I doubt these people do because they're ignorant like that (not say it is good) but still it's bullshït

Glad to learn there are still people like you who have frontal lobe in this country. I've stopped arguing with these people that maintain a strong belief that animal or human ritual yields wealth. Several years back BBC ran an investigative report of Albino killing in Zambia. Even the juju priest couldn't discern that the black guy consulting him is a BBC reporter.

The juju priest did animal ritual at a construction site. He killed a bull, and blood from this animal was spilled at the construction site. The rest of the animal was buried at the site.

The reporter went back to the priest after a month. The animal ritual did not yield any significant increase in wealth. According the reporter, " his construction business has not faired better." The juju priest requested they use Albino body parts. All conversation were recorded and handed over to Zambian police to effect an arrest.

I think the juju priest was arrested... Not sure how that report ended.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by anyimontana(m): 6:12pm On Dec 16, 2017
THE TRIAL AND JUDGEMENT

At first, nine people testified before Justice SO Ekpe, who took over from Justice Gabriel Ojiako, the retired chief judge of Imo State, in the course of the trial. Trial started on the 9th of December, 1996 with Hillary Ngozi Opara as the first prosecution witness. The court also admitted the confessional statement of Innocent Ekeanyanwu, taken by Ambrose Nnah, a police sergeant who recorded the statement in Igbo. He testified in court on the 17th of June, 1998 as a witness saying the statement was recorded in English and read to Ekeanyanwu in Igbo before he thumbprinted it. Counsel to Duru and Unaogu (Tony Mogboh, SAN) objected saying there was nothing to show it was interpreted to him in Igbo after it was recorded in English and that the Igbo version should also be attached to prevent distortion. Their objections were overruled with the judge saying:

“There is no evidence before me that the statement was not made voluntarily. And if a statement is made voluntarily, it is admissible in evidence. The objections are therefore overruled. I rule that the statement is admissible in law and should therefore be admitted as exhibit II.”

A receptionist in the hotel named Margaret Acholonu stated that Duru was actually in the hotel the very day the boy was beheaded. She also said that two spots were dug at the hotel premises and it was from the second one that the body of Okoronkwo was exhumed. She also narrated that on that fateful day, she saw Ekeanyanwu with a black bag and he told her he was going to his village at Ezi

A police sergeant, Sunday Onwucheka, told the court he was in the office at the Owerri police headquarters on the 20th of September when Ekeanyanwu was brought in with a fresh human head by the divisional police officer (DPO) in charge of the Iho police station in Ikeduru. He said Ekeanyanwu was then taken to the Ifeanyi Anozie, an assistant police commissioner at the Criminal Investigation Department in Owerri. Anozie then directed that Onwucheka, ASP Aguobi, ASP Obasi Chukwu, leader of the team, DSP C Nmezi and other ranks should investigate the case.

According to Onwucheka, before the police took Ekeanyanwu to Otokoto Hotel, the crime scene, he confessed to killing the boy at Mba River in Ikeduru and dumped the body inside the river. The police followed the false trail but found nothing at the Mba River. So at about 7:00 pm on the 20th of September, they returned to Owerri. The following Monday, they continued with their investigation and took him to Otokoto Hotel where the headless body of the boy had already been identified before the police team arrived.

It was discovered that during the course of the investigation that there was a time when Duru came out while standing with Ekeanyanwu and shouted at him:

‘Have you implicated me?!’

Other witnesses included Laeticia Okoronkwo who happened to be the distraught mother of the boy, Sulaiman Idris Ibe, a retired police inspector who was on duty at Eziama when Opara the cyclist came to report, police photographer and Ralph Nwaiwu, the doctor who performed the autopsy on Ikechukwu.

On the 20th of August, 1997, another separate trial began at a senior magistrate’s court in Owerri and docked were nine police officers. They accused of being complicit in the murder of Ekeanyanwu. The White Paper on the Otokoto crisis had recommended their dismissal from the force and trial. They were:

Ifeanyi Anozie, an assistant commissioner of policeChukwu Obasi, an assistant superintendent of policeKevin EzirimChristian NnaziClifford OdiakaFelix NnoromChristopher AguobiIgnatius IgweJames IbezereJosephat Nwosu

The case snailed on and on the 14thof October, 1997, over a year after and after a series of adjournments, absence of lawyers, presiding judge, suspects or even the retirement of judges or their transfer, the case was back in court. That was then a letter dated 16th of May 1997 from the then federal solicitor-general to the Imo State attorney-general ordering that the accused persons be released saying no prima facie case had been established against them. But the ever-vigilant indigenes of Imo got to know of the plan and promptly raised an alarm and embarked on another protest until the state government assured everyone via radio that all suspects would appear in court.

When the seven suspects finally appeared in court, many were pissed off. Leonard Unaogu, the minister’s brother, was transported in a new station wagon from the prison to the court like a royalty. Vincent Duru and other suspects were brought in a Black Maria from prison to the court, with handcuffs. Duru protested the preferential treatment given to Unaogu. Many judges handled the case. First, it was Gabriel Ojiaku, who retired in 1997 handing over to Simeon Ekpe who was almost done with the prosecution until he was elevated to the Court of Appeal and the case was stalled until Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme finally took over on the 28th of April 1999

In her judgment, given in February 2003, Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme said of Chief Vincent Duru:

‘You are a hardened and unrepentant murderer.’

“This is a typical case when a circumstantial evidence has proved a case of murder with the accuracy surpassing that of mathematics. It has left no one in doubt, of the connection between one accused person and others. It is to me a syndicated arrangement with clear division of labour,” she said.

Of Unaogu, the sixth accused and the minister’s brother, she said:

‘I believe that the sixth accused accused procured and counselled Innocent Ekeanyanwu to bring a human head. You are a highly-sophisticated criminal, a very intelligent man who chose to channel his intelligence the wrong way. You shall be hanged by your neck until you die. May God have mercy on your soul….the sixth accused person, Leonard Unaogu could be described as essential part of the actor who orders for the heads of human beings as if he is ordering for goat heads. It is indeed an unfortunate case, a very intelligent man who chose to channel his intelligence the wrong way. The blood of Ikechukwu Okonkwo must be a very strong and powerful one that cried to God in high heavens.”

“It is indeed condemnable, even God Himself condemned it when he said in Ezekiel chapter 8 verse 20 that “the soul that sinneth shall die.” The accused have demonstrated specie of wickedness surpassing those of Jezebel. The law is very clear on the consequences of these acts and the perpetrators will go in for it.”

But Unaogu was still unrepentant and so confident that he replied the judge saying:

‘If God will permit!’

One of the spectators in the court was so mad at his arrogance that he responded him sharply saying:

‘Which God? God has permitted this! The measure you gave is the measure you have received. ’

All the seven suspects were sentenced to death, they were:

Chief Vincent Duru, the owner of the Otokoto Hotel (he and Unaogu denied knowing each other but Justice Nwosu-Iheme said that was a lie). He appealed the sentence in 2012 but he was unlucky as the sentence was upheld by the Appeal Court.Alban Ajaegbu Samson Nnamito

: 62-year-old was eventually freed after spending 16 years in prison. He was reportedly found innocent and said he was not a manager but an ordinary supervisor at the Otokoto Hotel. He had appealed the sentence and his innocence was upheld by the Court of Appeal, his family said they spent N2.5 million on legal fees alone but were happy to finally have him back. He said: “If I had committed anything worthy of imprisonment, I would have accepted my fate but unfortunately, I did nothing to warrant 16 years of suffering. While in prison, all my friends deserted me and my wife and eight children passed through very difficult times. I don’t know where to start life again. I don’t even know with what to start with again. My mates, who started the race with me, have since overtaken me.”
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by oderemo(m): 8:35pm On Dec 16, 2017
At op, your efforts at relaying this story is appreciated.
Thanks.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by Nathan2016: 9:00pm On Dec 16, 2017
op THIS IS A GREAT TRUE LIFE STORY.,

You are a great writer.

Try and make it into a movie script please...

Is too good to just be an article

Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by lecturerdabo(m): 9:51pm On Dec 16, 2017
Tnx op!
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by ashjay001(m): 9:59pm On Dec 16, 2017
earthsync:
but seriously how would a human body parts generate money? undecided that is some myth ignoramuses still believe in this 21st century that killing a person to use their head or whatever would make it vomit money is just plain bullshite except maybe they illegal sell their victims organs to the black market which I doubt these people do because they're ignorant like that (not say it is good) but still it's bullshït



Well, they were all supposedly, billionaires! If it didnt work for them, they wouldnt have participated or continued!



The occult, is all over d world!
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by Nobody: 12:12am On Dec 17, 2017
Nathan2016:
op THIS IS A GREAT TRUE LIFE STORY.,

You are a great writer.

Try and make it into a movie script please...

Is too good to just be an article
It do amount to such an expensive movie that i doubt if it would be profitable.
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by HtwoOw: 8:06am On Dec 17, 2017
AuroraB:
Unlike 'others', the people of Owerri proclaimed instant justice and quelled the brazen crimes against the wishes of enforcement agencies wink
There's a BIG difference.
So, go take a very low seat at the back with your myopic reasoning cool


@topic, is Amakohia really an upscale part of Owerri? Methinks issa fringe? And the otokoto man may have chosen that location to blur his evil deeds.

Thank you Mr grammar, I guess the ones that were burnt in IB, Lagos, Osun etc were just foot soldiers huh?
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by PhilAmadeus: 8:22am On Dec 17, 2017
Op I read this story keenly, u did a wonderful job...
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by AuroraB(f): 9:05am On Dec 17, 2017
HtwoOw:


Thank you Mr grammar, I guess the ones that were burnt in IB, Lagos, Osun etc were just foot soldiers huh?
So, what's your point sad
Re: Must Read!! The Untold Story Of The Otokoto Money Ritual Killings Of 1996(pix) by HtwoOw: 9:04am On Dec 18, 2017
AuroraB:
So, what's your point sad

refer to the previous comment

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