*Ogwashi-Uku Commission Of Inquiry: Otulu Community Raises Fear As Police Seizes Principal Representative* ~ Truth Reporters

The Otulu-Ugo community in Aniocha South Local Government Area, Delta State, has raised the alarm over plans to frustrate their presentation at the hearing of the Commission of Inquiry into the kingship and land dispute in Ogwashi-Uku following the detention of a principal member of the community by the police.

The detainee, Obi Francis Medolunwa, who is the proposed community leader of Otulu, was reportedly lured to Abuja and detained by the police, thereby shutting him and others out of the hearing.

Speaking to the press in Asaba, the Iyase of Otulu, Chief Christopher Isikekpei, said that the people were frustrated already as their son and leader was being held incommunicado while the commission set up by the state government began sitting.

According to him, he and Obi Medolunwa had anchored a petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) over acts of violence perpetrated by some miscreants, who were being used by the rulers of Ogwashi-Uku to perpetrate disaffection and violence, including alleged murder in Otulu.

He explained that the suspects, namely Anayo Mba (AKA Ije Love), Anthony Enurah, and some persons from Kogi, identified as mercenaries, were arrested by the IGP Monitoring Team and moved to Abuja for interrogation.

The Iyase revealed that while the investigation was ongoing, one of the suspects, Anthony Enurah, conspired with chiefs from Ogwashi-Uku and influenced a petition against the Obi Francis Medolunwa and others.

While Obi Medolunwa was invited to make statements as a complainant, police operatives attached to the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), Abuja directed the release of the suspected criminals and instead held Obi Medolunwa in detention, ostensibly to stop him from appearing before the commission of inquiry.

He recalled that Obi Medolunwa had honoured invitations by the DSS and police in Asaba and Abuja in the past over issues concerning the kingship and land crisis in Ogwashi-Uku and Otulu communities, even when he was enviously declared wanted by the police, adding that all issues had been resolved in his favour and he had been moving about as a free man before his petition. The Iyase stressed that it was because of the petition that the police now made him an accused instead of a complainant in a case that he reported.

The Iyase, Chief Isikekpei, appealed to the Delta State Government and the IGP to ensure the release of Obi Francis Medolunwa of Otulu to enable him to participate in the ongoing hearing by the commission of inquiry into Ogwashi-Uku kingship and land crisis.

He assured them of their determination to appear before the commission but said that their son and leader should be released for the sake of equity and justice in the assignment of the commission.