•Accused Of Involvement In IPOB Activities
By Peter Uzoma
Undisclosed persons suspected to be under the payroll of the Imo State Government are reported to have laid siege at the residence of a community health practitioner working at the Awo Omamma General Hospital, Dr. Victor Ikenna Ofili, over speculations of his involvement with the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
The people of Isieke in Awo-Omamma, Oru East Council Area of the State and its environs woke up in the wee hours of Monday, October 9, 2023 to behold a furnace engulfing the building housing the Medical doctor, his wife, four Children, and family members.
Aside the fire, eye witnesses accounts told Trumpeta that the assailants fully masked and adorned in military regalia had earlier ransacked the apartment in search of their principal target, unfortunately, he wasn’t at home except for the elder brother who was manhandled and left with severe injuries.
While Dr. Victor Ofili had gone on leave with his wife and children on holidays, the incident struck.
Narrating the incident to journalists on the spot assessment, Mr. Charles I. Ofili explained that although the identity of the culprits were shadowy, they resembled security officers under the employ of the Imo State Government.
He stated that one of the men confronted him that his brother, Ikenna is wanted to answer questions bordering on his alleged involvement with the IPOB group.
Our correspondent reported that earlier in 2016, the same Dr. Victor Ikenna Ofili was abducted, tortured and beaten to stupor by the then Imo Security Network under the instruction of the former Commissioner for Health, Dr Ifeanyi Nwachukwu.
Recalling on the 2016 incident, Mr Charles told newsmen that his younger brother the Medical Doctor is neither a terrorist, member of any secessionist group nor forments trouble, rather, said he only goes about his legimate duties as a Medical Doctor.
Mr. Charles further narrated that when the attack on his brother by the former administration in Imo State failed, they resorted to redeploying him to General Hospitals at remote areas, especially to the most volatile places with incessant cases of murder, arson and manslaughter. He was posted to Arondizuogu from Ihitte-Uboma. From Arondizuogu, he was posted erroneously to the Government House Clinic where he worked for only three months before they flung him to Egbema. He worked for two years at Egbema before his latest posting to Awo-omamma. All these postings were done without any regard of the welfare and safety of his family.
According to the Charles Ofili, reason why the government wants to see his brother killed on duty is what still baffles him, even when his brother still accepts to work in those remote and volatile areas with little or deteriorated facilities.
Mr Charles maintained, “As we speak now, the whereabouts of my own brother, Ikenna, his wife who also happens to be a Medical Doctor and their four Children are uncertain. The government should provide my brother to me. They have been after his life over allegations that are unfounded.
“At Ihitte-Uboma, I am sure you all are Journalists you must have also heard and published the news then, he was accused by Okorocha’s Commissioner for Health for insubordination simply because my brother refused to allow some faceless people take over the concessioning of the General Hospitals and the subsequent sack of workers without payment of salaries due to them. They almost killed him then. Irrespective of that, they posted him to this current place in Oru East, and you all know that Awo Omamma, Orlu, Orsu, are the most hit with cases of unknown gunmen and the activities of the Biafra secessionist group. He queried whether it has become a crime for one to be born as an Igbo man and lamented that with the scope of systemic marginalization against the Igbos generally across the country, it is only natural that an average Igbo man will be sympathetic to the IPOB.
“Here, many innocent families have been killed by the Nigerian security forces for mere suspicion of belonging to the IPOB. This was where he lived with his family and worked at the Community General Hospital until his sudden disappearance in September 2023, when he was expected to resume duties after his annual leave.
“His wife, who is also a trained medical doctor, mother-in-law, wife’s little brother, and 4 children, have all gone underground and have not been seen since my brother disappeared last month”, Mr Charles said.
Speaking further, Charles disclosed that ever since the incident, strange faces have been recorded in their Oguta country home, as they were displaced at the Awo Omamma residence due to the setting ablaze of their rented apartment.
However, he seized the opportunity to plead with the Federal Government and Security Operatives to come to their aid for protection as his life is in serious danger, while he intensifies effort to look for his brother and family’s whereabout.
Efforts to get across to the State Police Public Relations Officer on his reaction on the matter proved abortive as he neither answered, picked, nor replied his calls and messages as at Press time.
