In an SOS to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the women appealed to the president to prevail on the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to immediately remove the police officer.
Hundreds of women of Egbema community in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State have staged a peaceful protest against one Police Insp. Chukwukadibia Okebata, aka ‘Kill and Bury’ for allegedly taking over their only health centre and converting it into an illegal detention centre.
The protesting women, who displayed placards with various messages were seen in videos obtained on Sunday, chanting local slogans, calling for the removal of the police inspirator from their community.
The police officer was described as a ‘rogue officer’ by the community people.
Some of the placards read: “Kill and Bury, allow us to sleep in our community Biko!!!” “Kill and Bury, stop arresting innocent souls,” “We want peace in our community police,” “Give us our freedom Kill and Bury bikooo!!!” “Kill and Bury must go,” “Leave our leaders alone police!!!” “Gov Hope Uzodimma tell your Kill and Bury to go, Mmahu need peace,” among others.
The women decried that they now live in fear of the ‘rogue’ police inspector who has allegedly seized and converted the only healthcare centre in the community into a detention facility and shrine where he practises juju.
In an SOS to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the women appealed to the president to prevail on the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to immediately remove the police officer.
They also called for the restoration of the health centre to its original use.
The SOS partly read: “The people of Egbema community in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State are on the edge and the community on the brink of extermination as a consequence of illegal activities of one Police Inspector Chukwukadibia Okebata also known as “Kill and Bury” who had gone rogue on the natives of this rural, agricultural and oil-producing community.
“For two years now, our community has been under serious siege and our people living in perpetual fear of existential danger to lives due to the threats posed by one police inspector who calls himself ‘Kill and Bury’ and who does everything to live up to that name. This particular police officer is notorious for his unconventional and illegal ways of policing which are not known to any extant laws of the country, be it the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or the Nigeria Police Act.
“Inspector Okebata, his team of rogue police officers and Dey Well cult boys he recruited from the community have become a nightmare to Egbema clan in Ohaji/Egbema LGA of Imo State, its neighbouring local government areas of Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State and Egbema community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, as this rogue police officer and his team are known to cross state boundaries into Rivers State to also terrorize the communities there.
“His activities in these communities range from, but are not limited to unlawful arrests and detention of unsuspecting individuals to outright murder and execution, intimidation, extortion and in some cases torture, waterboarding and electric shocks of both old and young, males and females without recourse to the instrumentality of the law.”
It added, “Inspector Chukwukadibia Okebata alias ‘Kill and Bury’ and his team converted the only Health Center in the community, which was built and fully equipped by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to his detention centre, concentration camp and cells where he takes unsuspecting members of the public arrested by him to question, torture and make them swear to a shrine and sometimes summarily execute them there including his fellow police officers.”
Lamenting, the community said that the health centre had been destroyed by the said police officer and his team and was dilapidated.
The residents said the facility would be useless without substantial repairs and installation of medical equipment.
The community said, “The health facility valued at over three hundred million naira (N300,000,000) is an eighteen (18) bed Comprehensive Health Centre with Doctors Quarters (a two bedroom flat and another one bedroom flat of nurses’ quarters) built and furnished with various medical equipment, furniture and fittings and handed over to the community by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which is now being occupied forcefully and vandalized by the team led by this rogue inspector.
“No member of the community dares to access this facility now as it has been converted to shrines with all manner of juju and fetish objects. To see our loved ones illegally detained in this facility, our people are charged five thousand naira (N5,000.00) per person per visit. The rogue Inspector also charges family members between N1 million to N5 million to take their relatives on bail after which the case becomes the basis for further extortions.
“Another very disturbing fact is that this rogue police officer recruited Dey Well cult boys from the community who now form part of his team and armed them with weapons and uses them as foot soldiers to intimidate, terrorize and extort money from the general public.
“The activities of Inspector Okebata has been so rogue that the rogue inspector has become a subject of regular and constant women protests in the area that as recent as Monday, 20th May 2024, a protest by women of Mmahu community was again held in the area over the arrest of a very popular Pastor, Noble Omego over some trumped-up charges, and unfounded and baseless allegations.”
The said Inspector Okebata, according to the letter, is a man of questionable character. The community cited how he allegedly shot and killed some of his colleagues in broad daylight on July 10, 2022 in the Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, an offence for which he was neither reprimanded or even redeployed, sacked nor prosecuted.
“He is also known to have in the recent past shot some youths and others he damaged their legs by shooting at them,” the community said.
It continued, “Other activities of this said officer include working with crude oil pipeline vandals and ‘bunkerers’ by providing them protection and cover for an agreed fee. A proper investigation will reveal how much wealth this Inspector has amassed over time from illegal oil bunkering activities. Going by his flamboyant lifestyle, it is very obvious that it is not from his salary and allowances as an inspector as he is living way above his means.
“It is noteworthy that as the headquarters of Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area, Egbema has both Divisional Police Station and Police Area Command, but this rogue officer is an authority unto himself as he neither respects nor reports to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) or the Area Commander. And none of the persons or alleged suspects arrested by him and his team are ever taken to any police facility, instead, they are taken to the community’s health centre which he forcefully took over, just so he won’t be accountable to his superiors and these his superiors are unable to call him to order due to his high profile political and police backing and protection as he is known to do their dirty bidding of election rigging and political assassinations.
“As a matter of fact, people now report land, family and business disagreements to him for purposes of using him to intimidate their adversaries.
“It is also noteworthy to state that several petitions have been written to the former Inspector General of Police on the nefarious activities of this Inspector Okebata Chukwukadibia (aka Kill and Bury) in which the IGP in his wisdom instructed the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Police Command to investigate and report back to him. Sadly, he was only invited to Abuja, questioned and released by the police without a proper investigation, hence this officer has continued with the same illegal and rogue activities to date. This lack of accountability by this rogue police inspector and his team is suggestive of police cover-ups and high-profile protections.
“We equally have it on good authority that there are plethora of petitions by other individuals and organizations numbering over twenty-five (25) which had been written to the police authority against this particular rogue officer, but his enablers, some politically exposed persons who use him during elections, as was seen in a viral video report by Arise TV during last Imo State election where officers of the Nigerian Security And Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were seen accusing ‘Kill and Bury’ of shooting at them and disrupting elections and carting away ballot boxes.
“Those politicians keep protecting him as he continues terrorizing lives of innocent Egbema citizens.
“What Inspector Okebata is doing in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta local government areas of Imo State and their neighboring local government area of Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni in Rivers State is similar to the Anambra State Awkuzu SARS police brutality.
“On Saturday, the 11th day of February 2023, he arrested one Ikechukwu Iro from Etekwuru Egbema of Ohaji/Egbema LGA of Imo State, shot him on the leg while torturing him on video. Unfortunately, the boy died in the process.
“From the foregoing, it is very clear to see and deduce that the police, particularly the Imo State Police Command and indeed Police Force Headquarters of the previous Inspector General of Police were compromised by some high profile politicians in Imo State, as they took no action to protect innocent citizens of these communities from the illegal activities of this rogue and out of control police officer and his team.
“The police to date are still protecting this officer and condoning his crude policing methods and brutality as they have failed to rein him in, discipline or bring this particular rogue officer to justice even as he has continued to kill, destroy and maim unabated innocent citizens of Egbema community.
“We are hereby using this Save Our Souls message to call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR to come to our rescue by ordering the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to as a matter of urgency cause an in-depth investigation into the nefarious activities and the high-handedness of the erstwhile police Inspector Okebata who has resolved to continue to terrorize our people and other members of the society in order to stop him before his actions occasions total and complete breakdown of law and order in the affected areas.
“We are also calling on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to as a matter of urgency order the Nigeria police to vacate the premises of our only health centre and discontinue forthwith the occupation and illegal activities therein and to renovate and restore it to its original status, re-equip and immediately hand over same back to the people of Egbema community as that is the only health centre that caters for our medical needs.”
Meanwhile, efforts made by SaharaReporters to get the reaction of the Imo State Police Command were unsuccessful as the Command’s spokesperson, Henry Okoye, could not be reached for comments.
He did not answer his calls and had yet to reply to a text message sent to his mobile line at the time of filing this report.
