Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor the former lead counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has expressed disappointment over what he described as a grave indictment of institutional silence and government’s questionable inability to live up to its responsibilities that has culminated in the gross violation of the sanctity of life.
The erudite human rights lawyer, in a post on his social media handle referred to the gory spectacle at Ngor Okpala where a horrific discovery of massed human parts and grossly mutilated human remains were found in a mortuary.
The proprietor of the morgue identified as Mr Stanley Oparaugo (alias Morocco), who hails from the same community has become a subject of national disgrace and inferno.
This recent horrifying disarray which is also to the infamous Otokoto saga of 1996, has cast a dent on the integrity of our intelligence agencies, security, architecture and other regulatory authorities whose cardinal responsibility is the security of life and property. Could this be attributed to negligence, complicity, compromise or collaboration”.
These are not idle questions. Innocent, defenceless citizens were ostensibly abducted, murdered, and dismembered, their bodies reduced to commodities in a grotesque marketplace of blood and organs. If the principal suspect is now declared wanted, the question remains: is the net wide enough?
Who patronised this trade of death? Who financed it, protected it, promoted it, or profited from it?
Are the patrons shadowy businessmen, political actors, ritual merchants, or a convergence of all?
Has the investigative searchlight been courageously widened, or is it perilously fixed on a single fugitive scapegoat?
For years, rumours and reports of human-part trafficking have trailed Imo State like a dark cloud. Too often, such crimes have been conveniently blamed on easily demonised groups, allowing the real architects and beneficiaries to escape scrutiny. Now that a named individual has been publicly indicted, we must ask: will justice stop at the gates of one mortuary, or will it pursue the entire syndicate behind this commerce of souls?
The Imo State Government owes Nigerians more than rhetoric. This investigation must be thorough, transparent, and publicly accountable. Its findings must not be buried in official drawers or sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. The truth must be told, plainly and completely.
Preliminary accounts suggest that accomplices remain within and beyond Owerri, embedded not only among civilians but possibly within security formations, government institutions, and regulatory agencies. This is not a discovery that can, or must, be swept under the carpet. Not now. Not ever.
