When Eze Cletus Elija returned to Enugu late October to prepare for his PhD examinations at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, nothing prepared him for the horror that would soon unfold. The 38-year-old, who works with an oil company in Port Harcourt and once served as Chief Security Officer (CSO) of his quiet Mburubu community in Nkanu East LGA of Enugu State, thought he was merely stepping into a routine community matter, interceding to secure bail for a young villager arrested in connection with the community’s lingering Igweship tussle.
Instead, he found himself chained, suspended, brutalised and forced to make a confession he insists was fabricated, one implicating Enugu State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Prince Lawrence Ezeh, in sponsoring “hoodlums” in the community.
“It was like walking into death,” Eze recalled, his voice quivering as he narrates the ordeal just outside the Enugu State High Court on Monday, November 24, moments after obtaining a restraining order against the police.
“They wanted me to say what I didn’t do. They told me to confess that I was working for the Commissioner. And if I didn’t, they would kill me and dispose my body,” he added.
His story, corroborated by other victims and now forming part of evidence before the court, sheds new light on the rising concerns over alleged abuse of police power in the Mburubu chieftaincy crisis. The crisis, which has stretched for months, escalated sharply after one man, Ozo Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe, allegedly declared himself Igwe-elect, in defiance of long-standing community traditions and court orders.
On Monday, the High Court of Enugu State intervened, halting further arrests and describing the facts presented by the victims as “sufficient and compelling.”
But the interviews reveal that what transpired before that judicial intervention were scenes chilling enough to provoke outrage from human rights advocates.
A bail mission turns into torture
Upon his return to the village, Eze had accompanied elders and youths to secure the release of a detained villager on October 30. They were still concluding discussions at the police station when an officer asked him to “stay back.”
He protested, insisting he had done nothing wrong. Then came the words that marked the beginning of his ordeal: “There is an order from above.”
“I knew something was off. But I still didn’t think it would get to that level,” he said.
Hours later, as night fell, operatives of the Special Weapons and Tactical Squad (SWAT) arrived. Seeing their uniforms almost brought him relief.
“I had worked with SWAT before. I knew their commander. He even called me by my nickname, Two Face, when he saw me. That gave me hope that I was in a friendly terrain,” he stated.
But hope evaporated quickly.
He noted that after a brief exchange with the commander, his hands were tied behind him, so tightly he cried out in pain. He was then led away and subjected to what he describes as a medieval-style torture setup.
“They took me to the back of the commander’s office,” Eze, who could hardly stand without any assistance, said, demonstrating with his arms. “They used two handcuffs on my hands, chained my legs, tied ropes to tighten everything, and then connected an iron rod from my arms to my thighs. Two men pulled the ropes and hung me up. I stayed like that for about five hours.”
While suspended, he said they beat him repeatedly and demanded he reveal “where the guns are.”
“I told them I didn’t have guns. But they said I know how to shoot gun, to which I answered yes, because as former CSO I handled pump-action guns given to our community by the government. But I resigned years ago and handed everything over,” he said.
What followed, however, was even more disturbing.
Police shrine, incantations and forced allegations
Eze said the officers took him into what he described as a “shrine inside the police facility.”
While still reeling in pains, he recounted,
“They were doing incantations, calling names, including that of Commissioner Lawrence Ezeh.
“They rubbed me with fetish substances and told me to confess that I was a hoodlum sponsored by the Commissioner.”
He refused.
“They said I would die there. That nobody would know. They said they could shoot me and dispose my body. I fainted three times. Each time they revived me, they continued beating me, tightening the ropes, demanding I mention the Commissioner.”
To him, the objective was clear: force a narrative that fits a political agenda. “They wanted me to say he sent us to cause trouble over the Igweship matter,” he said. “But I couldn’t lie. I would rather die.”
The elder who was treated as a criminal
While Eze spoke from the perspective of a younger victim, 68-year-old elder, Mr. Aniobi Ambrose, illustrated how the alleged crackdown extended beyond youths.
He was abducted on November 1, not by police at first, but by armed thugs loyal to Onuokaibe, he claimed.
“They double-crossed me with guns and machetes,” Ambrose said. “They called me by my full name. I thought it was kidnapping.”
He said he was shoved toward a waiting vehicle and told the police were looking for him. Only when they handed him over to SWAT operatives did he realise the abduction was coordinated.
According to him, what he saw at the station, brought him to tears.
“I saw our boys…young men…lying on the floor. Tortured. They took our phones, didn’t let us eat or drink. I saw this my young man here”, gesturing to Eze Elijah, “in a condition that broke my heart.”
Ambrose says the community had long known the chieftaincy matter was delicate, but he never imagined it would reach the level of brutality.
The chieftaincy crisis behind the clashes
Interviews with the victims outline a conflict rooted in the community’s 2003 constitution, created under the late Igwe, which clearly spells out the rotational journey of the throne and bars certain families, including the Igwe’s own children, from contesting.
In January 2025, the High Court in Amagunze delivered a judgment in Suit No. HAMA/1/2024, disqualifying Onuokaibe from contesting.
In October 2025, another court ruling in Suit HAMA/24/2025 restrained him from holding a new yam festival or parading himself as Igwe-elect.
Yet, he allegedly went ahead to print invitation cards and hold the festival, insisting that no other village could celebrate theirs until he concluded his own.
“Youths protested because it was against the court order and our custom. But after it all died down, he(Onuokaibe) started arresting people,” Ambrose explained.
He insisted the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Okey Ogbodo, has handled the matter with inconsistency.
According to Ambrose, “He, (the commissioner), plays double face. Today he accepts the community’s 2003 constitution, tomorrow he says someone brought another one. We don’t trust him again,” Ambrose said.
A community living in fear
At the state High Court on Monday, the victims said about 70 names of community members have been compiled by police, who told them to report to the SWAT office or face arrest.
Eze said: “People are afraid to sleep at home. We were detained for almost three weeks. And after the torture, after everything, the same man behind it all, Onuokaibe, came to SWAT office and took us to his house. He made us call him ‘Igwe’ before we were released”.
To them, this was evidence the police knew they had done nothing wrong.
“How can the complainant become the surety?” Ambrose asks. “It shows they realise no crime was committed.”
Court intervenes
In court on Monday, the youths’ counsel, Barr. Ike Ozor, described what had happened as persecution engineered by a man trying to force himself onto a throne the law had ruled him unfit to occupy.
He told the court that the police’s actions “had become life-threatening.”
Justice C. O. Ajah agreed that their rights were in jeopardy and issued a restraining order stopping the police, SWAT Commander CSP Anosike Nduwuisi, IPO Emmanuel Uchenna Ogazi, and Onuokaibe from further arrests, harassment or intimidation.
He returned the case file to the Chief Judge for reassignment to another judge for continuation.
Outside the court, it was relief mixed with caution as Eze thanked “God for the judge. But we know this matter is not over.”
Calls for the Governor to Intervene
Eze repeatedly expressed respect for Governor Peter Mbah, whom he described as a “peace-loving man.”
He insisted that the governor is unaware of the depth of crisis unfolding in his own local government.
“Some people are blocking the truth from getting to him. If he knew what SWAT is doing, what they did to us, he would act,” Eze said.
To him, the crisis is no longer a mere community dispute; it is a threat to lives.
“If someone less strong than me had passed through that torture, he would have died,” he said. “They told us they could kill us and nothing would happen.”
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