Blessing Ephraim, daughter to an allegedly murdered widow, late Mrs Helen Eni Okoro, has cried out alleging that one Barrister Tony Ndu,  a prime suspect in the murder case, was using his connections and power to quash the ongoing case.

Tony Ndu and others ; Umacha Ukwuagwu, Elvis Oniha, Paul Ezekpe, Ikpo Victor Okechi, Obaa Mgbo, Peter Ikpo and Eze, on December 30, 2017, allegedly double crossed a vehicle conveying Blessing, her husband, three children and her late mother from a hospital visit at about 7:15PM.

Late Mrs Okoro was said to have refused to sell a plot of land to the accused which caused a rift and a subsequent alleged attack and murder of the widow at Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State.

Ndu who is also a business man, was said to have been released by the police on bail without prosecution.

According to Blessing, who is a nominal complainant in the case, the prime suspect through his counsel, moved the matter from Umuahia, to an Abuja High Court where he was granted bail in the absence of the deceased’s family or their legal representative.

However, the case has been moved from Abuja to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Umuahia, in Abia state which is the jurisdiction where the alleged murder occurred.

At a resumed hearing on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, at the High Court of Justice Umuahia, the defense counsel, Barrister Okey Amaechi, prayed the court to grant bail to the co-accused who are still in Afara correctional centre.

The prosecuting counsel and also the Director Public Prosecution, Barrister Ngozi Chianakwalam, opposed the motion on the grounds that the counsel had not made a formal bail application.

Giving legal reasons why the court should not grant the plea, Chianakwalam noted that the said offense is a capital offense and as such there needs to be an exceptional circumstance which the court needs to consider before granting bail to the accused.

She added that ‘if they are granted bail at this stage they may truncate the case as they may threaten the witnesses. She prayed the court not to grant bail to the accused as “it is premature at this stage to consider bail without a formal application”.

In his ruling the presiding judge and the Chief Judge of Abia state, Honorable Justice Onuoha Ogwe, agreed with the prosecuting counsel that there was no special ground or circumstance(s) which the defense counsel tabled for bail. He noted that the trial court must go through the exhibits to ensure that the matter is not swept under the carpet.

However, Justice Ogwe who explained that bail is not a discharge, neither should remand be considered a punishment, granted bail to three of the accused present to the tune of N10M, with a surety who must produce evidence of tax payment for six years and a passport.

He adjourned the matter to October 4, 2021, for further hearing.

Narrating the incident to ALL FACTS NEWSPAPER after the court session, Blessing Ephraim said;

This has been a case of murder, armed robbery, and assault. The prime suspect Tony Ndu transferred the case to Abuja IGP monitoring. He tried to use his power and connection. The matter was transferred from Abuja to Nyanya high court, to Jabi high court 5. Justice Banjoke ruled that the matter should be transferred to the State because it is a State matter.

 She questioned who brought the mater to Abuja which I told her is the prime suspect. The prime suspect has done everything in his power to oppress and sweep the matter under the carpet.

It was moved from Abuja to DPP Umuahia with the intervention of the Attorney General of the Federation. So since it was moved to Umuahia, the prime suspect and his counsel, has done everything to suppress and intimidate me but I refused it because I witnessed the murder of my late mother 30^th December 2017 in my hometown Arochukwu .

Finally the case came to Umuahia DPP, he now went to file through his counsel who is a former attorney of Abia, Okey Amaechi. They said a lot of lies in the court. While that is going on, he applied to quash the process so the matter was in Court 5, presided by Justice Enwereji who refused their pressure and she transferred it to the Chief Judge Court. It is in this CJ office that the DPP and others raised objection that before they go for quashing the process, they must take a plea which means that all the suspects must be present.

On how her mother was allegedly murdered, Blessing Ephraim narrated;

“ On our way coming back that day around 7:15 pm, my mother was in the vehicle, my three little children, and my husband. So as we were coming, his car double crossed us. When he double crossed us, he alighted out of the vehicle with gun and other thugs in the vehicle, they came down , they assaulted my husband, he used the gun on my husband, used the gun on my mom and then finally, he shot my mom to death.

“I took my mom back to that same hospital where I was coming  from, Mercy Catholic Hospital and on reaching there, I met the director of the hospital who is a Reverend Father and the nurse on duty, nurse Chinomso. They attended to my mom and till around 11:45 pm, my mom died and Abia state command came to the village and they recorded so many people and he was arrested to be on detention, but he was bragging that he has all the top police officers, all the DIG’s that it is a matter of his money, that he will bring the matter under the carpet and I thought he was just talking until the matter was brought to Abuja Monitoring Unit, I was coming to Abuja to meet the CP to ask what is happening to the matter, nothing was happening, he told me that they have referred it to legal department and before I knew it, he was released.

And since these people have been arrested and detained in Afara, he has been pressing button underground to make sure that they are released”.