Igwes’ Murder: Come Out Of Your Hiding, Police Tell Mbadinuju

Chris Agbambu, Abuja - 17.05.2008

The police have insisted that the former governor of Anambra State, Chimaroke Mbadinuju, should answer the query on how he came about the forged documents purportedly clearing him in the murder of Barnabas Igwe, ex-Onitsha NBA Chairman and his wife, Amaka, in September, 2002.

The police had already got a bench warrant to arrest him for refusing to answer several invitations extended to him over the issue, sources at the police high command told Saturday Tribune in Abuja during the week.

According to a source of the Special Investigation Unit of the Inspector General of Police, instead of Mbadinuju to clear himself of the allegation, he had taken interest in maligning the police so as to drop the case.

The informed police source disclosed to Saturday Tribune that in 2003, 13 suspects were arrested in connection with the murder while four people made confessional statements indicting the former governor of complicity in the murder.

However, revelations have shown that the Onitsha jailbreak of 2004 was organised so that the suspects could escape justice. The source further revealed that there was no trial which exonerated the former governor as being claimed, insisting that he used forged police report clearing him as exhibit in court.

The police source added that some police officers were prematurely retired because of false allegations made against them on this case by the former governor, alleging that they prepared the documents for him.

Furthermore, all the confessional statements made by the four suspects disappeared immediately the case file was submitted to the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Anambra State, while a duplicate case file could not be traced. This led to the retirement of the Investigating Police Officer, IPO, who initially investigated the case.

Meanwhile, the man who pulled the trigger, Odogwu Anam, is currently being detained at the Force CID in Abuja. It will be recalled that the police have said that the report in possession of Mbadinuju, purportedly signed by former Principal Staff Officer to the Inspector-General of Police, CP Solomon Arase, was a forged document.

CP Arase is at present attending a one-year course at the National War College, Abuja.