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Crime & Punishment of Saturday, 9 January 2021

Source: punchng.com

Enugu inaugurates eight-man panel to probe monarch’s killing

Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has appealed to the people of Oruku community in the Nkanu East Local Government Area to remain calm over the murder of the community’s monarch.

This is as the governor inaugurated an eight-man commission of inquiry into the murder and the crisis which led to the destruction of property.

Operatives of the newly formed Special Weapons and Tactical Squad on December 26, 2020, shot dead the community’s traditional ruler, Igwe Emmanuel Mba while presiding over a meeting at the village square.

The killing sparked a crisis leading to the burning of several houses, cars and other valuables purportedly belonging to masterminds of the killing.

Inaugurating the panel on Thursday to investigate and ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the crisis, Ugwuanyi said that the government and people of the state received the news of the monarch’s killing with shock.

The commission would be chaired by Justice Harold Eya with Dr Godwin Anigbo as the secretary.

Members of the commission are Chairman, state traditional rulers council, Igwe Amb, Lawrence Agubuzu; Prof. Den Onah; Mr Anthony Ogbu; Dr Chinwe Onah, Dr Godwin and Mr Paschal Okoloagu (counsel for the commission).

Ugwuanyi said the state had directed the deployment of security agents to the community to forestall further loss of lives and destruction of property.

The governor gave the commission eight weeks to complete their assignment and charged them “to expeditiously and most sincerely discharge this onerous task which outcome will inform further government’s actions on the Oruku crisis.”

Responding on behalf of other members of the panel, Justice Eya commended the governor for finding them worthy to serve in the commission, assuring him that they would discharge the task entrusted to them diligently with the help of God.