RESIDENTS ACCUSE POLICE OF BACKING EKANDA BOYS

Following the unchecked activities of a criminal group popularly known as Ekanda boys led by one Ikechukwu Udensi, Onitsha residents were left wondering if there had been complicity with the police in their nefarious activities.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that the Ekanda boys had been terrorising the Onitsha metropolis for a very long time and the residents had tried to bring the attention of the security agencies to their plight to no avail.

In recent times, the siege of the dreaded criminal group reached a very alarming stage with great threat to the security of lives and properties. Residents were left wondering whether the group had the backing of the security agencies as the Ekanda boys’ reign of terror had gone on unchecked.

P.M.EXPRESS investigations showed that the Ekanda Boys operated strongly along Bida Road down to Modebe Avenue and the Odoakpu area of Onitsha in general. They operated both in the night and broad daylight and their criminal activities had paralysed commercial activities in the areas affected as they broke into shops and warehouses at will.

It was gathered that the Ekanda boys days ago disrupted business activities in the area, dispossessed residents and business men and women of their valuables and wares. Some of the victims reported the matter to the Onitsha Main Market Security outfit; two of their members were arrested and handed over to the Onitsha Police Division (Central Police Station) within two days. But to the dismay of the security outfit and residents, one of them was left off the hook hours later stemming the suspicion of complicity or backing from the police. However, the Onitsha Main Market security outfit rearrested him.

A concerned citizen, Barr. Nweze Remi Obiora, who spoke to P.M.EXPRESS on the matter, said that they had tried in the past to bring the menace to the attention of the Anambra State government and the security agencies but no respite yet. He mentioned that in the not too distant past that his wife had been a victim of their criminal onslaught. He said he had wondered how powers had been ceded to a young man and his criminal group to continue to terrorise innocent citizens.

“Is the Anambra State Government pretending not to be aware about the existence of this young man and his Ekanda cronies? Or are they waiting until something grievous happens before they act?” he asked.

Another resident who did not want his name mentioned told P.M.EXPRESS that the leader of the criminal group, Ikechukwu Udensi had been in and out of prison and had faced lots of criminal charges in the past. He said he wondered why he was always released prior to every election in the state to continue to unleash his terror. He said that only a serious and swift action by the state government or police authorities will clear the suspicion of complicity from the minds of the disgusted residents.