Caught by surprise

The truth of the matter is that the deplorable security situation in Zimboda has caught us all by surprise.  I make bold to say that in 1953 when Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara a Moslem preacher was murdered at Oko-Baba on the foreshore of Ebute-Metta, in Lagos the entire city of Lagos and indeed the rest of Zimboda was in total shock.

He was abducted and ferried in a canoe across the lagoon before he was dumped overboard into the river.  His corpse was never found.  Regardless, the Director of Public Prosecution Mr Charles Madarikan wasted no time in bringing the culprits before Justice de Comarmond.

The guilty verdict was delivered followed by an appeal which was disposed of expeditiously by Justice Ian Lewis.  Consequently, the two Oteka brothers were hanged publicly.  Matters were concluded within eighteen months.

Thereafter, the country reconnected with civilization as confirmation that our destiny is firmly anchored on law and order as a derivative of justice.

Here we are almost sixty years later.  The bandits and insurgents have launched a full scale war.  It started as a whispering campaign.  Now, the gruesome reality is that 276 girls were abducted from Chibok in the middle of the night and loaded into trucks — destination Sambisa Forest.  Since then civilization has been in shock and awe.  Soon, it will be 100 days since the teenage girls went off our radar leaving us entirely bewildered.

What started as a whispering campaign has become a monumental nightmare and colossal tragedy.  It borders on fiction.

What is not fiction is the horrible photograph on YouTube with the caption:

“ONWUZURUIKE WITH THE SKULL AND HIS WEAPONS”

It had gone viral on internet ahead of the front page report of the “Sunday Tribune” newspaper (July 6, 2014).

“MAN ARRESTED WITH HUMAN SKULL”

“A 41-year-old suspected cultist, kidnapper and ritualist, Onwuzuike Nwakaogwu, has confessed to his involvement in a cult group popularly called Dey-Well at Igwuruta village, Ikwerre Local Government area of Rivers State, just as he revealed the identity of the deceased whose skull was found with him as Victoria.

The suspect claimed his efforts at getting money from the skull yielded fruit before his arrest as he said that it used to spew out N10, N20, N50 notes  whenever he poured ‘kain kain’ (alcoholic drink) on the skull before reciting incantations.

But his efforts at repeating the same act in the presence of Sunday Tribune after alcoholic drink was given to him yielded no result as the skull remained as it was without bringing out money.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune on the arrest of the suspect, the Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr Tunde Ogunsakin, said that SARS operatives, headed by Tunji Disu, a Chief Superintendent of Police, received an intelligence report on the activities of some ritualists at Igwuruta village in April 2014.  He disclosed that the Officer-in-Charge raised a team, led by Inspector David Ameh and assigned it the duty of gathering more information on the activities of the suspected ritualists.

The commissioner said the operatives were able to get information about the leader of the suspected group in the person of Nwakaogwu in May but efforts to arrest him proved abortive as he was always on the run.

However, the security agents’ moves yielded fruit on Monday, June 23 when a combined team of Metro Intelligence, Metro Storm and Bomb Squad of C4One section went to the suspect’s hideout at Omuwenyi in Igwuruta village and arrested him, Ogunsakin added.

He said that items recovered from Nwakaogwu included a local pump action gun, four live cartridges and human skull surrounded by bitter kola and neatly kept in a corner of his one-room apartment.”

It is very tempting to postulate that there is a direct link between what transpired in 1953 and the Boko Haram monster with which we are currently confronted.  The evidence provided by “National Mirror” newspaper is as follows:

“HOW APALARA, ISLAMIC PREACHER WAS KILLED”

“The murder of a notable Islamic preacher, Bisiriyu Apalara in Ebute-Metta area of Lagos in 1953 was a tragic incident in the pre-independence era.  The deceased was killed and his body was dumped in the lagoon.  Eleven persons, including two brothers were subsequently tried, convicted and condemned to death for the murder.

When Bisiriyu Apalara woke up on January 3, 1953 in Oko-Baba area of Ebute-Metta, it never occurred to him that the day would be his last on earth.  In line with Islamic injunction, he did his ablution and prayed to Almighty Allah before setting out of his house.  That outing however turned out to be an eternal journey to his world beyond.

Prior to that day, he had had clashes with the leaders of Oro, Awo-Opa and Agemo traditional cult groups, accusing them of being deceitful and over indulgence in fetish practices.  At every gathering, Apalara never hid his resentment for them and he often criticized and preached against them during the series of his Islamic lectures.  He warned them against their evil deeds.

In one of such Islamic lectures, Apalara openly demonstrated before his adherents and members of the public what he called the hypocrisy of Oro and Agemo cult groups.

Sensing that Apalara had exposed them and ridiculed their beliefs, the members of these groups plotted his murder.  It was a well-planned and orchestrated crime that would not show any inkling of its commission.  Interestingly, the masterminds and executors of the crime were caught and their complicity was established by the prosecution.

Shortly after his preaching on January 3, 1953, some men ambushed the Islamic preacher in the night on Tapa Street, Ebute-Metta and attacked him with cutlasses.  They left him to die and thereafter dumped his body into the lagoon.  About two days later, when his body came afloat, the assailants tied a rope round his body with a heavy object and his body was sunk.  Hence, the body of the deceased was not found despite efforts of divers that combed the lagoon and its environs.  Nonetheless, he was presumed dead.

This incident that occurred exactly 61 years ago, led to the arrest of several persons linked with the crime and they were charged with Apalara’s murder.  The first accused person was Joseph Ogundipe.  Ten others were also apprehended including two Oteka brothers.  They were tried by Justice de Comarmond and a jury at a Lagos High Court who found them guilty of killing the deceased.  It was a case rooted in circumstantial evidence.

The trial judge devoted part of his summing up to the evidence of the victim’s death.  “His belongings were found in his house and he has never been seen again and we have got the evidence of the attack upon him and you know that blood (which was human) was found leading from that place, Tapa Street, to the foreshore.”

The hearing of the case took approximately five weeks at end of which the jury brought in a unanimous verdict of guilty against each of the accused persons.

J.K Randle