…as Victims Recount Chilling Torture, Death-Grade Beatings, and Police Collusion with Ozo Patrick Onuakibe
The crisis rocking Mburubu community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State reached a boiling point on Monday as the Enugu State High Court, sitting in Enugu and presided over by Honourable Justice C. O. Ajah, issued a sweeping restraining order against the Nigerian Police Force, the Commissioner of Police, the SWAT unit, and the Inspector-General of Police, forbidding them from further arrests, detention, or harassment of ten applicants and more than seventy other residents of the community, including the Commissioner for Science, Innovation and Technology, Hon. Prince Lawrence Eze.
The landmark ruling followed a compelling application filed on November 24, 2025, detailing an alarming pattern of illegal arrests, horrifying torture, prolonged detention, and forced confessions allegedly carried out through a collaboration between disgraced Igweship aspirant, Ozo Patrick Onuakaibe, and certain rogue operatives of the Nigerian Police Force.
The Mburubu turmoil traces back to Ozo Patrick Onuakaibe’s refusal to accept the community’s long-standing 2003 constitution, which rotates the Igweship among the six villages. A High Court judgment delivered on January 12, 2025, categorically disqualified him from contesting, being from Umunafor, the fifth village in the rotational order, while the throne is due for Uhunegbe, the second senior village.
Despite the binding judgment, Onuakaibe, in open defiance, began parading himself as Igwe and even announced a New Yam Festival online. The court granted a second restraining order stopping the festival, yet he reportedly proceeded with police backing and initiated a campaign of fear, arresting those who refused to attend the illegal celebration.
Following the alleged violent crackdown led by SWAT personnel under CSP Anosike Nduwuisi, the court today granted all reliefs sought by the applicants, condemning any further harassment. Justice Ajah also flagged disturbing reports that his earlier order was flagrantly ignored and directed the applicants’ counsel to notify the Chief Judge of the State for appropriate sanctions.
What followed inside and outside the courtroom were heart-wrenching testimonies from victims, accounts so gruesome that observers described them as “unmistakable markers of torture.”
Victims Describe Torture That “Felt Like Slow Death”
Elder Ozo Emmanuel Aniobi: “They tortured our boys until their bodies tore open”
Elder Aniobi, visibly shaken, said the court’s intervention was the first ray of hope for a community assaulted for standing by its constitution. He revealed that youths were abducted, tortured for three consecutive weeks, and only hurriedly released two days ago when police learnt of the impending court case.
He recounted:
“When they brought the boys out, some could not stand. Their backs were peeled, their wrists swollen black. They were beaten until they bled. And when they were released, instead of taking them home, they were driven straight to Patrick Onuakaibe’s house and forced to kneel and call him Igwe. It was humiliation and torture blended together.”
He warned that the real danger was not the disqualified aspirant but police officers aiding him to destroy court orders.
Eze Cletus Elija: “They chained my legs, hung me Upside-downlike an animal for 5 Days, and beat me until I fainted, three times”
Perhaps the most gruesome testimony came from Eze Cletus Elija, who narrated his ordeal in a trembling voice.
According to him, after going to secure bail for another youth, he was suddenly detained on an “order from above,” before SWAT operatives handcuffed him and drove him away. At their office, the real horror began.
He said:
“They chained both my hands and legs, lifted me off the ground, and suspended me with the chains. My whole body was screaming. I thought my bones would snap. They beat me with sticks, wires, and belts. They rubbed something on my face and started chanting incantations.”
Elija said he passed out three times, woke up to more beatings, and was coerced to confess to crimes he knew nothing about. He was repeatedly forced to implicate Hon. Prince Lawrence Eze.
“They told me they could kill me and nothing would happen. I believed them.”
He called on Governor Peter Mbah to urgently intervene before the situation escalates beyond repair.
Elder Mr. Aniobi Ambrose: “I saw boys whose bodies were turning purple from torture”
Another victim, Elder Ambrose, said he was ambushed with guns and machetes on his way to a meeting by men loyal to Onuakaibe, who handed him over to the police like a captured criminal.
He described entering the police cell to find young men “brutalised beyond recognition.”
“Some had deep cuts. Some could not speak. Their backs looked like someone sliced them with blades. I broke down crying. They were denied water. No food. No light. No humanity. It was pure wickedness.”
He expressed disappointment in the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Okey Ogbodo, whom he accused of giving double-sided responses that worsened the crisis.
With today’s ruling, Mburubu community has received a lifeline after weeks of terror and anguish. Residents say the arrests, torture, and intimidation left many afraid to sleep in their homes.
The applicants insist that this is no longer a traditional dispute but a criminal abuse of police power, a brazen assault on the community’s constitution, and deliberate disobedience of judicial authority.
They called on the Enugu State Government, the Inspector-General of Police, and the National Human Rights Commission to ensure immediate enforcement of the court order and bring all perpetrators, uniformed and non-uniformed, to justice.