An Ogwashi-Uku Magistrate Court, in Charge No: A/81C/2022, on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, remanded a key suspect, Mr Ojo Eugene Izediunor, over the February 7, 2022, attack on court bailiffs, police and members of the Ogwashi-Uku Umu Obi Obahai Royal Family.
The suspect, according to discreet police sources, has been on the run since February 7, 2022 when the court bailiffs, armed with a warrant of possession from the High Court in Asaba, came to take possession of the Ogwashi-Uku Palace.
This was pursuant to a victory at all court levels from the High Court, Court of Appeal in Benin and also the Supreme Court.
The suspect, according to the same sources, was tracked after he initially fled Ogwashi-Uku.
He is said to have been finally tracked at a hotel in Ogwashi-Uku where he had allegedly, violently assaulted a woman.
The suspect, who was said not to be aware that he was been trailed, was arrested and brought to the Ogwashi-Uku Police Station on the charges of assaulting the woman.
At the station, crack detectives, from the Delta State CID who had been assisted by members of the IG Monitoring team in Abuja, picked him up and transferred him to the State CID in Asaba for further investigations.
Recall that on February 7, 2022, as the court officials came to execute the warrant of possession, the suspect, Mr Ojo Izediunor, along with his recruited thugs, allegedly barricaded the gates of the palace and dared the police.
Izediunor and his thugs were allegedly armed with all manner of dangerous weapons including guns, cutlasses, daggers and improvised explosives (Molotov cocktails).
They reportedly launched an attack on the court officials and police which led to the initial retreat by the police to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Ogwashi-Uku.
The Delta Commissioner of Police, CP Ari Ali, mobilised a reinforcements to recover the palace and in the process the suspect escaped while some other suspects were arrested at the scene and are still in custody.
The legal battle, which lasted for about 23 years, was to determine the occupant of the hereditary stool between the Umudeiyi lineage and the Umu Obi Obahai Royal lineage.
The court battle terminated on November 1st, 2021, when the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by Umudeiyi family and affirmed the judgement of the lower courts that the stool belonged to the Umu Obi Obahai royal lineage.
Meanwhile, Obi Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo II, who is the brother to the Director General of World Trade Organisation, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has warned that the palace would no longer tolerate acts of mischief and lawlessness in the community.
He has insisted that a community cannot thrive where there is persistent breakdown of law and order.
“Everybody in Ogwashi-Uku has a stake in this palace, and we will deal with everybody fairly, kindly and forthrightly. We will be transparent, we will be held accountable for our actions,” he said.
Now that it appears Ogwashi-Uku is gradually becoming calm and normalcy is returning to the community after the events of the past few weeks, the police have indicated that they will not stop until the remaining suspects are apprehended so they can have their day in court.
According to a discrete police source, they are still on the hunt for four suspects who orchestrated the attack against the court bailiffs, police and members of the Umu Obi Obahai Royal family.