By Izunna Okafor, Awka
It is no longer news that what has been described as an attempted murder occured in the once-peaceful Ebenator community in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, leaving a young man critically injured with gunshot, with others missing, and many more reeling from the trauma of an unprovoked attack from government officials.
The incident, which occurred at a sand mining site in Ọfara Ime River Ebenator has continued to generate reactions and raise serious concerns about the conduct of government operatives and the deafening silence of the Anambra State Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Felix Odimegwu, who allegedly sent the government taskforce and the operatives that went for the operation where they acted harrowing scene that played out like a Hollywood thriller.
The eyewitness accounts have it that around midday on Tuesday, December 10, heavily armed men stormed the mining site, firing sporadically into the air and unleashing terror on unsuspecting workers. Driving in bus, Sienna, and Hilux vehicles, the armed men, who masked their faces and dressed in black, claimed to have been sent by the State Ministry of Environment to enforce the state government’s ban on illegal sand mining. However, this enforcement quickly turned into a nightmare, with the sound of gunshots echoing through the community and sending everyone scrambling for safety.
Among those caught in the chaos was Uzochukwu Okafor, a young man and son of the Women Leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Nnewi South, who was dangerously shot by the said taskforce; while some other persons were reportedly beaten, arrested, and taken to undisclosed locations. Witnesses further revealed that vehicles, motorcycles, and personal belongings of the people were confiscated during the raid, leaving the community to grapple with fear, outrage, and unanswered questions.
The circumstances surrounding the raid have since sparked a chain of reactions and counter-reactions, especially as the community members said the same local government authority that initially ordered them to stop mining activities at the site also later gave them the approval, authorization and go-ahead order to resume operation after duly following the necessary processes, meeting the necessary conditions and getting the necessary certification, as was recommended by the local government. This, the people said, made them to resume operation at the site, few days after which the armed men stormed in Sienna vehicles and opened fire at the site.
These claims have cast a shadow of suspicion on the real motives behind the attack, with many questioning whether it was a legitimate enforcement exercise or a politically motivated vendetta, given a widely speculated hostility and suspected power tussle existing between the Nnewi South Local Government Chairman and the Environment Commissioner, who both hail from the same local government.
In his reaction to the incident, the Local Government Chairman, Hon. Van George Ezeogidi, who said he had no prior notice about the operation, has come out to say that he got calls from the Councillor of Ebenator Ward, Hon. Chekwube Igweme, who informed him that some armed and masked men stormed the community. This, he said, made him to mobilize to the area, on the process of which he intercepted the men along the road at Osumenyi (a neighbouring community) where they informed him that they were sent from the Ministry of Environment.
The local government Chairman who disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday through his media aide, Ezemazi Apostle Chuks, however, did not say anything about the alleged hostility and power between him and the Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Odimegwu. But the statement served as a confirmation that the masked armed men who shot the community youth at Ebenator were sent from the Ministry of Environment.
Surprisingly, however, amidst the swirling accusations, public outcry and attempted murder by his men, the silence of the Environment Commissioner on the whole matter has been particularly glaring and much louder than the gunshot itself. He has not only refused to pick calls from the journalist since after the incident, but has also ignored his messages of inquiry about the his Ministry’s involvement in the operation and the actions of his men. Who could ever imagine that for a matter so grave as this, a principal and concerned authority would choose to remain suspiciously silent and ignore inquiries ? Beholding these, one can rightly conclude that the Commissioner’s silence is not only puzzling but also profoundly troubling, as it raises questions about his stewardship and responsiveness as a public servant.
In a democracy, silence from public officials in the face of such a serious incident is more than just a communication failure—it is a tacit endorsement of the impunity itself. By choosing not to address the matter, the Commissioner inadvertently sends a message that such violent actions are acceptable under his watch. This silence also erodes public trust, as it suggests a lack of empathy for the victims and their families, who are left to bear the brunt of a tragedy that could have been avoided. As at the time of this publication, the victim shot by the Commissioner’s taskforce is still lying in pains in the hospital, while the perpetrators move freely and unquestioned.
Evidence abounds that this is not the first time the Anambra State Ministry of Environment (under Commissioner Odimegwu) has found itself entangled in such allegations of terror and brutality. Just recently, in October, operatives from the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA), a Agency under the Environment Ministry, were implicated in another attempted murder and brutalization of Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme, a journalist and former Chairman of Onitsha Chambers of Commerce, who they mercilessly brutalized even to the extent that they broke his spinal cord, during an enforcement at Onitsha. Currently also, Mr. Akaneme, who was rejected by many hospitals, is presently lying at the mercy of death at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Memfys Specialist Hospital, Enugu.
However, despite the public outcry that trailed the incident and the several calls from groups and members of the public for investigation and appropriate disciplinary actions against the taskforce members involved in the act, the Environment Commissioner has also remained suspiciously silent.
Coincidentally even, it was on the same Tuesday, December 10, when the Anambra State Government announced its undertaking to pay the twenty million naira (N20m) medical bill of the first victim, Akaneme, that the taskforce from the same Ministry shot another person and brutalized many youths in Ebenator community, in the guise of enforcement.
Reports have it that even while this trends, the concerned authorities have paraded the five youths they whisked away from the community during the operation and labelled them illegal miners, even despite the claims that they got their authorization and go-ahead order from the local government, which was also the same authority that initially told them to suspend operations.
So, if I mask, are these masked armed men really enforcing government’s order? Is the government fighting itself here? Or are the Environment Commissioner and the Local Government Chairman using innocent youths and the peaceful community of Ebenator to advance their speculated hostility and power tussle?
In all these, and whatever the case be, one thing is clear: Silence is not an option. Commissioner Odimegwu owes the people of Ebenator, and indeed all of Anambra State, an explanation. His suspicious silence has been interpreted by many as his usual smart tactic to let such controversies die a natural death.
Some others, in their reactions, have also said the incidents paint a disturbing picture of a government that appears indifferent to the plight of its citizens, while the Commissioner’s silence and inaction in both cases have also led many to question whether the Ministry of Environment is operating as an independent entity or as a lawless force answerable to no one.
Unarguably, the 1974 theory of the “Spiral of Silence” by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann aptly describes Commissioner Odimegwu’s approach to these crises, as, by refusing to address the allegations or condemn the actions of his operatives, he is effectively enabling further abuses. Does he not know that silence, in this context, is complicity, and inadvertently emboldens/inadvertently encourages those who perpetrate these acts, trusting that they will not be questioned, or held accountable, probably even if they had shot the victim dead during the said enforcement ?
With the rising cases of brutality being reported of various government agents and the accompanying silence, one can say indeed that Anambra State is at a crossroads. The government must decide whether it will continue to tolerate lawlessness and impunity or take bold steps to restore public trust. Commissioner Odimegwu’s silence is a disservice to the people Mr. Governor swore to serve. The Solution Government of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, must rise to the occasion and practically solve this as he solved some other pressing infrastructural needs of the state —not by words or clearing of the hospital bills of brutalized victims, but with decisive actions that demonstrate his commitment to justice and accountability.
The people of Anambra deserve better. The victims of these heinous acts deserve justice. And the silence of leaders in the face of such atrocities must never become the norm. After all, nobody is more Anambra than the other!
Izunna Okafor write from Awka, Anambra state capital.
