Egiji Atigwe, the son of former Enugu State House of Assembly Deputy Speaker David Atigwe, has vehemently denied allegations that he supplies guns to armed robbers, kidnappers, or any criminal gangs in Enugu State or beyond.
Egiji Atigwe, an engineer residing in Onitsha, Anambra State, claims he is being framed by a group of local security operatives in his hometown, Aji, Enugu Ezike, following his efforts to evict them from a family property that they had turned into a torture site within the community.
In a statement delivered through his lawyer, Chukwuemeka Abuguja, Atigwe explained that he had returned to the community shortly before the recent local government elections and witnessed horrific abuses inflicted on suspects by the local security group occupying the Atigwe family property without permission.
He stated, “The local security operatives gathered their torturing equipment and forcefully entered the Atigwe family property at Aji Junction. They were capturing people at random, aiming to torture them and potentially kill them on site. A similar incident occurred in 2019.
“We viewed this as an attempt to commit murder on our property and subsequently tarnish the family’s reputation. People cannot just seize family property and inflict torture with clubs, machetes, and guns without our consent.
“Upon witnessing their actions, Egiji demanded that they leave. Fortunately, we recorded everything on video; the eviction was not executed covertly. Just weeks after this incident, we began noticing sinister efforts to frame Egiji.
“Recently, we saw a viral video featuring an individual named Emenike Egbuike, known as Emzor. With his hands bound and visibly distressed, he appeared to be speaking under duress. He claimed he was involved in a robbery and alleged that my client, Egiji Atigwe, supplied him with firearms.
“I took the initiative to question Ugochukwu Asanya after hearing his voice interrogating Emzor. I later discovered that Emzor was detained at the Igboeze North Police Station. I requested to see him, and upon interrogation, he revealed that he was accosted in front of Aji High School. Ugochukwu Asanya and his team assaulted him there and continued to beat him from 6 PM until 4 AM the following morning.
“You can see from the video that they used logs of wood rather than canes. Emzor said he was coerced into confessing to armed robbery and naming others they wanted to implicate. They gave him two choices: to name names or face death.
“He recounted that they lit a bonfire and told him it was either he implicated these individuals or he would perish in the flames. Faced with such terror, he agreed to confess to save his life. His body bears the scars of the torture he endured.
The lawyer emphasized that “the aim of this entire scheme is to damage the Atigwe family’s reputation.”
He further recounted that the following morning, another man, Kosi Eya, was arrested by the same security outfit, which pressured him to mention Atigwe’s name to corroborate the earlier accusations. However, he refused, able to do so because there were witnesses present, and they could not risk killing him in broad daylight.
He added, “To this day, no evidence has been recovered from any of those arrested, nor has anyone come forward to report a kidnapping. Currently, there are no complaints in this case.”
“I also want to make it clear that no member of the Atigwe family has attempted to manipulate the police or obstruct justice. Since the suspects were transferred to anti-kidnapping units, neither my family nor I have taken any steps to subvert justice. I am confident that the investigation will uncover the truth behind this fabricated story.”
The President General of Aji autonomous Community, Slyverster Ayogu in a telephone interview corroborated the story that the vigilante group was ejected from the Atigwe’s property.
