A resident of Ndichewo Umuomara Ndiagu Amagu in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has accused the member representing Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chinedu Ogah, of being behind a series of killings, landgrabbing, and violence in his community and other communities in the state.
In a video sighted on Friday, the resident, who identified himself as the first son of the late Nweke Ogbodoure, alleged that his father was killed by armed men working for Ogah in April after he opposed the sale of communal land allegedly by the lawmaker.
“Chinedu Ogah is a terror to Ndiagu Amagu and Ikwo as a whole,” the man alleged in the video.
“It is a name that is associated with a nightmare, that if you dream and you hear that name, it is a name that you need to rebuke from the beginning to the end. It is a very bad name to be rebuked, and I think of every other people affected in my place.”
He claimed that Ogah’s group is notorious for “the destruction of lives and properties.”
“In fact, the name is known for the destruction of lives and properties. That is the only thing they know. The only thing they hear is about blood, destruction of blood, killing and killing, that is all,” he alleged.
According to him, Ogah maintains armed groups across nine villages in Ikwo, each led by local commanders.
“I’m from Ndichewo Umuomara Ndiagu Amagu in Ikwo. There have been so many lives taken by this group (Ogah’s group),” he said.
“In all nine villages there, this guy has all the armed groups headed by particular people in each of those areas.
“Like in my own place in Ndichewo Umuomara, his armed group leader is Chika Nwalobu. He is the leader there, and when they want to reign their terror on people, they will go and summon all of them, two of their leaders from different villages.”
He added that these armed men often move across communities to unleash violence.
“They can even move from there to other places and anywhere in Ikwo that you see a crisis happening, either communal or whatever, Chinedu Ogah is involved.
“They move people from as far as from my own village to other villages and then mobilise them to go there and cause terror. That is what they do.”
When asked if he had evidence for his allegations, the man insisted that the incidents were public knowledge.
“It is something that anybody can verify. It is not hidden. My own father is one of the victims of the issues I’m telling you.
“My father was killed in April just because he came out to say the truth about the communal land that they were selling.”
He explained that his late father had opposed the sale of land reserved for communal use, which elders had long agreed should not be converted for residential purposes.
He said, “They sold out about two different places. They went to a particular one that the villagers said they understand that that particular place was made for farming and not for residential purposes.
“That it is made for grazing, or maybe when the community has an issue to solve, instead of going down to the poor farmers to levy them, they should rent the place and get the money and do whatever they want to do.
“And then, that their forefathers who are already in the grave have already had an oath in that particular place, that if you use that place for residence, it will cost death.”
The resident said his father, as one of the elders, insisted the land must not be sold.
“My dad, being one of the elders in the village, said no, that it cannot happen (that Ogah and his group must not sell the land),” he said.
“That they should not allow the young people who are coming up and who don’t know what is happening to come and sell the particular place that they have already taken an oath in.
“That when death will start, it might likely start from them who are the elders or their children. So, in order to make sure they put the place aside or stop them from doing whatever they wanted to do, the elders started mobilising against it.”
He added that even though the elders were peaceful in their approach, their opposition angered Ogah’s group.
According to him, “They were not fighting, but they were going against it to make sure they communicated with them and make them understand and stop.
“Even at a point when they discovered that Chinedu Ogah was involved, these people mobilized themselves twice to go there to let him know and understand that he should not do what would cause problems in the village.”
He said that “When they found out that it was an opportunity for Chinedu Ogah to reign his terror on them, they went back to him.”
He added, “They even went to the village chiefs, but instead of them (the chiefs) to do what they were supposed to do, because all of them are political clique to Chinedu Ogah, they were doing politics for something that the villagers needed, something that would help them for their own life to be safe.”
Asked if the issue was a political clash, he said, “It is not a political clash. I’m telling you that is the way Chinedu works.”
He alleged, “He is involved in everything, even with family issues. If you have husband and wife issues, they are involved.
“They will just make a call, and those guys will come with AK-47 rifles to come and disturb the husband and wife there.”
He further claimed that the lawmaker’s men disrupt social gatherings and burials.
According to him, “He (Ogah) is not even a member of our village. He is interested in everything happening, even when friends are having issues. Even when people are doing a burial, they arrange all these boys to come from the bush with the AK-47 to disturb people’s burial.
“Everything happening in that village, they are involved. There is nothing they are not involved in, destroying people’s properties and killing. Even in my village, I can’t count (people who have been killed).”
Earlier reports stated that a TikToker identified as Chisom Achor from Item-Amagu Ikwo of Ebonyi State, was abducted by officers of the Enugu State Police Command on the alleged order of Ogah.
Achor was abducted on Wednesday night while he was live on TikTok, criticising the lawmaker.
Before his reported abduction, Achor had published videos on TikTok in which he accused the lawmaker of subjecting his people to brutal oppression, killings, and land grabbing.
Speaking in Igbo in one of the videos, he alleged that Ogah had used his influence to intimidate and exploit the community.