have an impact on the present. It all began on Saturday, January 19,
2013, in
Amansea. The locals witnessed a very bizarre occurrence, as people who
went to the banks of the Ezu river to swim, wash, and draw water, were
shocked to behold numerous corpses bobbing in Ezu river, Anambra.
The exact number of bodies floating lifeless upon the water was not
clear. A police report put it at 18, while witnesses from the
community quoted the tally as high as 50. No claims were initially
made, there were no report to ascertain the cause of deaths. However,
Peter
Obi, the then governor of Anambra state, offered N5 million for
information about the corpses; still the deaths remained a mystery.
The administration of the time claimed that they ran an autopsy and
had come up with some findings which they would not divulge for public
consumption.
However, there seemed to be a leak from the said report. It was
discovered that the corpses had gunshot wounds on them, but there was
reluctance on the part of the police and the government to press on
the issue, because there were strong indications that security agents
could have been responsible for the killings.
Speculations say the bloated bodies belonged to detainees callously
shot by the police and then dumped into the river. The Anambra state
Special
Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), based in Awkuzu, was accused of routinely
engaging in executions outside judicial precedence.
There were claims by the Movement for the Actualization of the
Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) that SARS swept up and detained
several MASSOB members at one of the group's rally, but
that since the arrests, the detainees were neither again seen nor prosecuted.
This claim was however debunked by the State Command in Anambra. Bala
Nassarawa, who was then the Anambra state police commissioner,
justified the arrest of the MASSOB members, stating that the group
posed a threat to nation.
But for some, the commissioner failed in his reply to the allegation.
His statement affirms that the SARS made an arrest of the alleged
members of MASSOB,
but he did not give details, nor provide evidence that the members
caught were still alive in custody.
Suspicions festered around, but no concrete conclusion on the issue
was reached. Gradually, Anambra state and, indeed, the Nigerian
people, forgot the case like an old book on a dusty shelf.
However, more than three years after the ugly incident, the story
tends to have taken another turn, as not less than 10 people were
reportedly killed by cholera and other water related diseases. The
local people have cried out that their woes are attached to the
dumping of corpses in the Ezu river. Local reports also say that at
least 20 motor accidents have been recorded close to the bridge
where the corpses were dumped, and the people claim it is because 'the
gods are angry'. Chief Benjamine Onoania is the village head of
Amaowele village and member of the king's cabinet of Amansea community
where the incident took
place.
He said: "Following the incident, the Anambra state government at that
time promised to dig boreholes to provide alternative source of water
supply to the community but that has not been
accomplished."
Onoania further stressed that Chris Ngige, the senator representing
Anambra Central Senatorial district as of the incident, embarked on a
borehole
project, but that was abandoned half way.
The village head said that the people were left with no choice, than
to resort to drinking from their traditional Ezu river, a choice that
has now resulted
in deaths from water-borne diseases
The diseases, he claims, are a product of pollution of the river.
Onoania claimed also that the gods are angry because they were not
appeased. It also triggered almost two dozens of motor accidents
within the area surrounding the Ezu river.
"There have been at least 20 motor accidents between 2013 when the
bodies were first sighted and now," the chief said, adding that most
of the
accidents where fatal, with a high loss of lives recorded.
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