BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
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Indigenes of Ihe Autonomous Community in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State have appealed to Governor Peter Mbah to save citizen Ifeanyi Ekoh from execution.
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They also want Gov. Mbah to liaise with his Ebonyi State counterpart, Mr. Francis Nwifuru to see that Ekoh does not die.
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Ekoh was convicted of the murder of a minor in Ebonyi State in 2012 when he was just 27. Several people were arrested in connection with the murder but only he and one other were condemned to death.
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Addressing a press conference in Enugu on Thursday, the President-General of the Federation of Ihe Autonomous Communities, Engr. Anichukwu Chikezie Solomon insisted that Ifeanyi Ekoh was not privy to the murder of the minor, 7-year old Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji, and the eventual dismemberment of her body parts, probably for ritual purposes.
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Solomon who was represented by Ekoh’s nephew, Nnaemeka Nzekwe, during the media briefing on Ekoh’s travail, noted that the Supreme Court has been approached to look into the case to see if it could be upturned to free their kinsman from the hangman’s noose.
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He also appealed to Gov. Mbah to use his good office to intervene in the matter.
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“We want the case to be reviewed for people to intervene in order to find out exactly what happened in Agubia, Ikwo in 2012 so that my nephew’s life will be saved from wrong accusation levelled against him.
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“I want Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah to use his privileged position to call Ebonyi State Governor so that both will intervene in this very matter.
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“What we want is that truth should prevail so that an innocent person will not die in vain and that the actual third accused will be brought to book and Ifeanyi Ekoh whom they used to replace the actual 3rd accused will be freed from a crime he knows nothing about.”
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Still emphasizing the need for Governor Mbah to intervene, Solomon said, “we want the governor of Enugu State to intervene to save the life of his citizen.
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“We have already written a letter to the Ebonyi State Governor in this regard. We also wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the Federation, both the past and the present Chief Justice , a letter to the Senate President, a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a letter to the member representing Awgu, Aninri and Oji River Federal Constituency and the Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial Zone.
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“All those letters are to ensure that people will not hesitate to intervene. We want them to intervene so that an innocent citizen of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ekoh, will be set free,” he said.
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The President General pointed out that they got certified true copies of Appeal Court judgment separately on the people that were indicted and convicted over the incident and discovered that there was a miscarriage of justice hence the recourse to Supreme Court and the appeal for Gov. Mbah’s intervention.
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Insisting that there was a miscarriage of justice, Solomon pointed out that the person who should have been the third accused in the matter, was deftly left out and was never put in the dock because he is holding an elevated political position in the country.
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He also insisted that Ifeanyi Ekoh had a good alibi that was disregarded by the Appeal Court that he was not in Agubia -Ikwo, Ebonyi State on the very day, August 19, 2012 when little Miss Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji was abducted, killed and her body parts dismembered.
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“We then ask, ‘where is justice in the judgment of Appeal Court against Ifeanyi Ekoh?’. Also Ifeanyi Ekoh left Ebonyi State via Young Shall Grow Motors on 16th August, 2012, whereas Ukamaka Immaculata Ogboji was killed on 19th August, 2012 by Obinna Nwuruku and Ebenezer Amaga who clearly confessed to the crime of killing Ukamaka,” he points out.
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The president general, while briefing the press lamented that a human rights activist, Kindness Jonah who had been helping to see that Ifeanyi Ekoh is not executed for the crime he did not commit, was whisked away from Enugu to Abuja Special SARS Abbatoir Office, Abuja without trial.
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He said that a prominent politician from Ebonyi State who is in the National Assembly, threw Kindness Jonah behind bars for close to a month now without trial even when two count charge of cyber stalking and cyber bullying had been preferred against him.
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