The Anambra State government has commended the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Mustapha Dandaura, for the arrest and quick prosecution of one Ikechukwu Udensi, known as Ikanda, suspected of masterminding the killing last June of a 38-year-old businessman in Onitsha, Ndubuisi Nwokolo, for resisting an attempt by some criminals disguising as government revenue agents to extort money from a commercial motorcyclist.
The commendation is contained in a statement today by the Anambra State Commissioner for Information & Public Enlightenment, Mr C. Don Adinuba.
According to the statement, Governor Willie Obiano has written to the police commissioner to express satisfaction at how police officers in Onitsha acted on a tipoff and arrested Udensi who was in a secret location while waiting for his agents collecting revenues illegally to bring him money.
“The governor has carefully been studying the strategy which the Anambra State Police Command used to arrest this person on whom the state government placed a N1 million bounty since last year for the callous manner in which Mr Nwokolo’s life was ended in June, last year,” stated Adinuba.
“Chief Obiano is also impressed by the fact that immediately Ikechukwu Udensi, for one year the most wanted suspect in the state, was arrested, he was taken to court to avoid any possible legal loopholes through which Udensi could escape from the law”.
The statement reported the Information Commissioner as stating that Governor Obiano believes that “the arrest and quick prosecution of Udensi show that the new Police Commissioner in the state is here to work for the people and has consequently bought into the state government development agenda which makes security of life and property the first cardinal objective of the current administration”.
Mr Dandura was posted to Anambra in February, but quickly left for another state to help conduct the 2019 general election. He returned to Anambra State after the election.
“We recognise the preeminence of security in our socio-economic development architecture”, Governor Obiano said in the message to Police Commissioner Dandaura.
“The result is that Anambra, which was one of the most security-challenged states in Nigeria about five years ago when I assumed duties as governor because the state was virtually overrun by kidnappers and armed robbers, is today the safest and the most peaceful in the whole country”.
Chief Obiano observed that Udensi would have been caught long ago if he had remained in Anambra after Mr Nwokolo’s murder.
The governor declared: “He fled from here, but even so we were monitoring his movements; the moment he came to Anambra we grabbed him”.
The state Commissioner for information & Enlightenment remarked that Udensi’s arrest and subsequent prosecution show that the time is up for “those who collect illegal revenues and make life unbearable for our people.
“They will soon have their day in court. The long arms of the law will catch up with them, no matter how long they run and how well they hide themselves for now”.