COURT ACQUITS ENUGU METHODIST PRIEST, SIX OTHERS OF MURDER CHARGE

REPORTER: CHRISTIAN NWANGENE

An Enugu State High Court has discharged and acquitted a Methodist priest, the Reverend Kenneth Azikiwe Okafor, and six others of conspiracy and murder charge leveled against them.

The trial Judge, Justice Comfort Chinyere-Ani, held that the 2 count charge preferred against the seven accused did not prove the offence of murder against them before being unlawfully arrested.

The Methodist clergyman and others were apprehended and remanded in Enugu Correctional Centre since September 14, 2018 for the alleged murder of the traditional ruler of Ogbozinne Community, in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Igwe Stephen Nwatu, in 2018 and promoting local war in the community.

The Reverend Okofor, who is a native of Umueze Awkunanaw in the same Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, and of the Methodist Diocese of Agbani, was apprehended along six others by operatives of the defunct, Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, on September, 2018.

Igwe Nwatu had died following injuries he was said to have sustained while attempting to block the convoy of some members of his (Ogbozinne) community going to the Government House, Enugu, to protest his alleged high handedness, including outrageous burial and security levies, forced labour and collection of percentage on every land sold in the community.

Following his death, the police swooped on the community and arrested all those that had either disagreed with the late monarch or were sighted during the crisis that caused his death.

Delivering judgment on the matter, the trial Judge, Justice Comfort Chinyere Ani, held that she did not find anything against the accused persons and exonerated them from all the charges placed against them.

Justice Ani stated that the prosecution did not present any of the eyewitnesses of the incident to testify in the case.

“I cannot see circumstantial evidence strong enough to tie the defendants to the murder of the deceased in the face of uninvestigated alibi raised by some of the defendants.

“The Whatsapp chats relied on by the prosecution in their attempt to link the defendants to the crime were well analysed in the earlier part of this judgment.

“Suffice it to state that the chats while being incomplete and fragmented did not disclose conspiracy to murder and could not be specifically traced to the defendants.

“The law is that all ingredients of murder must coexist before the court can convict a defendant.

“I hold that the prosecution was not able to prove the offences of conspiracy and murder against the seven defendants beyond reasonable doubt and they are consequently, hereby discharged and acquitted,” the judge decided.

It could be recalled that the crisis in Ogbozinne community climaxed on June 11, 2018, with a brawl at Amodu Junction between those sympathetic to the late Igwe Nwatu and those opposed to his leadership style.

The cause of the brawl was an attempt by the monarch and his group to block the way of those going to stage a peaceful protest at the Enugu government house.

Many, including the Monarch, had sustained injuries in the incident. But the Monarch had died at the hospital.

Reacting to the judgment, one of the defendants, the Reverend Kenneth Azikiwe Okafor, who was the Pastor in charge of Emmanuel Methodist Church, Ogbozinne, Ndiagu Akpugo, told Radio Nigeria that he was incarcerated for an offence he knew nothing about.

The Reverend Okafor said the incarceration had taught him a great lesson and lamented the set backs it had caused him.

Also, the Methodist Bishop of Agbani Diocese, the Right Reverend Udo Nmeregini, said though he was happy that the court acquitted the priest of all the charges, the bishop expressed regret that a man, who engaged in the promotion of peace in the community, was robbed into a matter he had no knowledge about.

Bishop Nmeregini described the Reverend Kenneth Okafor, as one of his finest ministers, who had given so much for the ministry and spiritual developments of the people.

Bishop Nmeregini maintained that the church was ready to reinstall him to continue his ministerial duties.

An indigene of Ogbozinne, Ndiagu Akpugo Autonomous Community, Elder John Okoh, said the clergyman was friendly with members of the community and deeply committed to advancing the gospel of Christ, noting that his discharge was a victory for all.

The late traditional ruler, Igwe had since been buried.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU