A miner, Nze Paul Okosisi of Okorobi Ezemazu Urualla Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State has petitioned the Police Service Commission (PSC), requesting the commission to call to order the Police Area Commander in Ogboko, ACP Julius Ifeanyichukwu Ahaneku.
In the petition dated January 18, 2023 and signed by his lawyer, Olajumoke Adebayo, Okosisi alleged that ACP Ahaneku has constituted himself into a terror in the community, threatening the lives of innocent citizens going about their legitimate duties.
According to Okosisi, he had applied and obtained grant from the Federal Government through the office of the Director of Mining Cadastral Abuja to mine the sand at Agwura and Urashi river in Ideato North LGA.
He disclosed that at a point, some indigenes of the area namely Lawrence Ezeahurukwe, Anayo Udegbunam, Odinaka Sunday Ikechukwu James, Collins Eremba, Chijioke George, Tochukwu Ezeanyika, Onyewuchi Ohazurume, Chukwudi Rose, Chibueze Abiaka, Ebuka Okute, Tochukwu Ohazurume became interested and applied to join in the sand excavation business.
Okosisi added that the Mining Cadastral office however upheld him as the authentic holder of the grant.
He further informed that thereafter Lawrence Ezeahurukwe and his cohorts including their thugs accompanied by the Area Police Commander swooped on his mining site on December 6, 2022, broke into the gate and carted it to an unknown destination.
Okosisi said some of his workers were at the site at the time of operation and one of them recorded a video on his phone showing the Area Commander and his men shooting sporadically including the police vehicle used during the operation.
The miner disclosed that on finding out about the video recording, the Area Commander ordered one Inspector Ernest Njoku to arrest the young man who recorded the video with a boast that he would make him(Okosisi), his children and the video recorder rot in detention.
Okosisi said the Area Commander would have succeeded in making life a living hell for them but for the timely intervention of the Police Headquarters in Abuja.
The miner equally disclosed that the Area Commander led another operation on January 18, 2023 at the mining site during which he pointed gun at his son, Chimezie Okosisi and threatened to shoot and kill him if they did not vacate the site for the illegal miners to have a field day.
Okosisi said the Area Commander also arrested two land owners during the operation and sternly warned them not to step their feet into the site again.
Before these incidents, Okosisi said ACP Ahaneku had in August 2022 at the instigation of Lawrence Ezeahurukwe and his cohorts arrested two of his children and slammed them with a phony charge of attempted murder.
He revealed that while his sons were remanded in prison custody, the police and complainant abandoned the matter which was eventually struck out five months after.
Okosisi argued that ACP Ahaneku needs to be called to order to forestall loss of life or limb in the community since he seems to be trigger-happy, always pulling his gun to scare away innocent citizens that are not committing any crime and do not constitute any harm to the society.
