And Ifeanyi killed his cousin, By Funke Egbemode

The predator was lurking in the same house. He had it all figured out. She innocently walked into a well-laid trap. He knew it would be her last day on earth. She thought it was just another visit to brother Ifeanyi’s room. She had been there several times and returned unhurt, alive. He was her father’s brother after all. How could she have known that painful end, a sure grave was what was waiting for her behind the door? She was only 12, a trusting innocent adolescent, with a bright future ahead of her. But Ifeanyi lost his innocence a long time ago and that day, that fateful August day was the day the consummation of his affair with Lucifer was designed to be exposed.

On August 19, 2017, at about 1.30 am, policemen arrested one Ifeanyi Chukwu Maxwell Dike, 23 years for abducting, defiling and killing Chikamso Victory, an eight-year-old daughter of his cousin.

“Her vagina, eyes, tongue and breast were removed and put in a polythene bag. The suspect was going to dispose of the body, when he was arrested by the local Vigilante that suspected his movement.

Ifeanyi lived on Messiah street, yes, but he was already a lost cause. The name he was given, Ifeanyichukwu, did not speak for his life either. Doomed for perdition, a tool in the hands of his master, Lucifer, he was too far gone in his reprobate ways. All he wanted to do was the evil he had planned. By the time he beckoned on Chikamso, the die was cast.

What kind of human being wakes up in the morning and lays out knives and machetes as his tools for the day? What kind of person contrives that kind of crime against an eight-year-old, his own blood? Ifeanyi, probably carried Chikamso when she was born. He most likely was at her christening, helped her with her first tottering steps. Ah, but did any of those moments come to his warped mind as he gouged out Chikamso’s eyes? Did he remember those eyes as she once smiled and chuckled in his arms as an infant? As he sliced off her breasts, removed her tongue, did Ifeanyi remember the days everybody laughed as Chikamso tried to form her first words, her first funny sentences? And he raped her first! He raped his eight-year-old ‘sister’! For what, power and money? Even now, I’m fighting back tears.

Mothers-in-waiting, take a moment and say a little prayer. Oh Lord, when you plant a seed in my womb, let it be a good one. Do not allow the devil to sow in me a seed that will make me wear shame like a cloak. Do not let me carry in my womb a child that will grow into a monster that will find release and joy in decapitating other people’s children. Do not allow me end up looking back at the beautiful nine months I carry him or her in my womb and weep.

Fellow mothers, fellow parents, please pray that all your physical, financial, emotional and spiritual investments in your children will not end up as a parade of shame and pain on national television and front pages of newspapers. One day you think your child will soon graduate from the university, the next, he’s being paraded as a ritual murder suspect with the body of his cousin in front of him. How does a parent recover ever from that? How will Ifeanyi’s siblings face the world again?

But my heart is more with Chikamso’s parents, her father who had to see his daughter not only cold and lifeless but also discover that her mouth had no tongue, her empty sockets without the eyes. Who will wipe out the images of those moments from his mind? Those who have lost children know what I’m trying to put into words. Twenty years after, the images of my daughter’s last moments are still vivid.

Yes, the police caught Ifeanyi with the help of the vigilante.  And then he escaped from the police custody. Yes, this 23-year-old beast escaped from a police station manned by trained and armed policemen. They could not catch up with him and they did not take a shot at his legs to slow him down, a suspect who already confessed to a heinous crime.

According to the distressed father, Dr Ernest Nmezuwuba,“after taking the corpse to the State CID with the suspect handcuffed, the commissioner (CP) said that they should officially hand this case to the state CID. There, the DSP called one Johnbosco to record everything and take statements. We were there with the suspect in handcuffs. When we got to the state CID, there was no light in the entire State CID. I wrote my statement with candle. Then, Johnbosco removed the handcuff from the suspect’s hand for him (suspect) to write his statement.

“At a point, the boy (Dike) said he was thirsty and Johnbosco said I should go and buy pure water for him and I asked him; Why would you ask me to buy water for a person that killed my daughter? Some policemen were at the gate with guns while we were at the charge room writing statement. After we finished writing our statement, Johnbosco called the IPO to go and put the suspect in the cell. The suspect was not handcuffed at that time. “They did not walk up to a pole when I heard hold am, hold am. He has escaped. Whether he jumped the fence or not, I cannot say because the entire place was dark; it was around 7.30 to 8p.m. I told Johnbosco that he knew what he was doing.

Dear Inspector-General of Police,

Sir, let’s interrogate this issue together. Do you find it as suspicious as I do that the police station was without electricity on that particular day? Okay, it goes without saying Nigeria is mostly in the dark most days, but why did this Policeman called Johnbosco remove the handcuffs on a violent murder suspect and then went ahead to tell the father of the deceased to go and get him water? Again, let us assume Johnbosco didn’t know what he was doing, how exactly do we explain this escape sir? Every cop around that suspect was unarmed or they couldn’t find locate their guns because it was dark? This Johnbosco, does he have children or at least sisters? Were they alive and well when he left home that morning? Did he know that Chikamso could have been his daughter? Do the officers now investigating this case know that what happened to that little girl could happen to their own kids? IGP sir, how this case end will reflect one way or the other on you and the Nigerian Police in general. That this Dike has not been rearrested is already reflecting badly on the police.

My America-returnee friend said the Nigerian Police is ‘jacked up’  and needs to be fixed urgently. He then went on to ask me if the Nigerian Police now recruit ritualists. I know where that is coming from. Definitely, Ifeanyi was not working alone. Ritualists do not work alone. There is always an evil club somewhere or at best, an evil witch doctor. Or where was he planning to take the organs he took from Chikamso’s body? Then if there was someone somewhere working with the suspect, did that person reach out to Johnbosco to find a way to free Ifeanyi? Does that mean JB (Johnbosco) is more than a cop? Is he then the only cop that is doing other things to help certain evil people?

And then, maybe JB is innocent. Maybe he was just caught in an evil wheel. Maybe not.

The only way to clear JB is to find Ifeanyi alive. Yes, if he turns up dead, not that he deserves to live after confessing to his heinous crime, then my friend will ask me again if JB sent someone to silence him. He will also promote the Nigerian Police from ‘jacked up’ status to ‘towed up’.

The reputation of Johnbosco, the entire Rivers State Police Command and indeed that of the IGP is now in jeopardy.

It is all annoying, exasperating, embarrassing that in this day and time-this will happen in the N.P.F.  However, while we are waiting on the Nigerian Police to figure out a redeeming ending to this evil story, shall we tell God about it?

“Oh God of all times, God who can do what He has done before, please let the dogs lick the blood of those who are protecting Ifeanyi from reaping the fruits of his labour. Feed their flesh to the birds of the air. Let their bones end on the dung hill. Let them know that they are just mere men before the Mighty Man in Battle.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.” Isaiah 31:3

Those are your words, Lord. Let none escape.

Credit: Funke Egbemode, Sunday Sun