The Story, is currently in possession of a video on how angry Otulu youths beat a yet to be identified Ogwashi-Uku Prince and four others including the suspected murderer of an Otulu indigene, late Cletus Okpala-Ozumba last week Friday September 17th 2021.
It was gathered that one if the five on white attire, is the Prince, while some are half naked, an elderly man is completely naked after they were purportedly beaten to a pulp.
In the said video, one of the persons suspected to have pulled the trigger, is seen with a gun around his neck.
Trouble started on Friday September 17th 2021, when the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, His Royal Majesty (HRM) Obi Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo II, and his entourage stormed the community to allegedly sell lands.
It was learnt that the idea met brick walls as the youths confronted the Obi, which purportedly resulted into a fisticuff and subsequent death of the young man, leaving a wife and three children behind.
Miffed by the death, the youths purportedly poured out in the numbers and attacked the convoy of the monarch but was rescued and whisked away by police officers in the entourage.
It was gathered that in the process of whisking the king from the scene, four persons including a prince were abandoned behind and were given the beating of their lives.
It was learnt that the prime suspect who allegedly fired the shot that killed the man was among those the Obi’s convoy left behind as they were made to go stake naked and the gun of the perpetrator was hung on his neck.
An eyewitness, one Kingsley Okete, claimed that at about 11:00am on Friday 17th, September 2021, they observed that the Monarch of Ogwashi-uku community, HRM Obi Ifechukwude Okonji, Prince Onyema Okonji, two spiritualists, and armed thugs numbering up to 100 invaded the community, alleging that the people were not real natives of the community.
Okete disclosed that without wasting time, the spiritualist, a male and a female, who was dressed in white and red apparel, came out from a vehicle with a black goat, native fowls and other materials for rituals and incantations at the junction linking Issele-Azagba road and Ubulu-Okiti road.
Okete further said that the thugs were threatening to deal with the natives, went straight to the site where the community is building a project destroy the already made fence and laid claim over the community to be theirs, adding that they shot an innocent man during the process.
He said that the action triggered the anger of the youths who now went wild, saying that the Obi Ifechukwude Okonji specifically told them that they were foreigners and should therefor vacate the community.
In the same vein, Prince Christopher Okolie Isikaekpei who also is a custodian of culture in Otulu Community expressed dissatisfaction on the recent development from the Okonji palace, adding that he suddenly heard a gunshot that killed Cletus Okpara who resisted the invaders.
Okolie said Obi Okonji, Prince Onyema and two spiritualist came down at the Okiti/Azagba road junction for ritual ceremony, alleging that they said they would “claim Otulu at all cost, that anybody who opposes it would lose his life”, he alleged.
Prince Okolie said that Otulu is rich in Agriculture but the Ogwashi-Uku monarch has continued to intimidate them, forcefully collect their lands for sale, embezzling everything from the community, without giving them electricity and other social amenities.
He call on the state government to quickly intervene in the matter before it escalates, adding that Otulu remains a community of its own having meet up with standards of been autonomous, while appealing to the state government to direct the Ogwashi-Uku monarch to stop killing their people and molesting the poor.
But in a press release by Greg Elue Okwumbu, Media Aide to the
Obi of Ogwashi-uku Kingdom, the monarch said: “The Obi of Ogwashi-Uku and members of the Obi in Council of Ogwashi-Uku visited Otulu Ogwashi-Uku today 17/09/2021. The visit was largely successful and the Obi met members of the community, prayed with them and discussed with them about the issues.
“At the end of the visit and when the Obi was departing, cultists and thugs imported into Otulu who was aware of the visit attacked members of the entourage who were at the rear of the convoy. The thugs attempted to forcefully seize a gun belonging to a law enforcement member who escorted the Obi on the visit.
“It is important to note that members of the press accompanied the Obi on the visit. Law enforcement from the Office of the Area Commander and also the Brigade Command in Asaba were also there at the visit and witnessed everything that happened.
“The people who sponsored the thugs are known to us and will be brought to Justice”, the statement added.
