Some stakeholders from Anambra State have launched appeal fund to support Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme, former President of the Onitsha Chamber of Commerce who was paralyzed as a result of the manner he was physically manhandled by a set of police officers and operatives of Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA).
The ASWAMA team had visited the home of Okechukwu in Onitsha on a revenue drive. He was a former Chairman of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Onitsha Federated Chapel, prominent leader in the Onitsha business community and a major employer of labour.
As a result of the inhuman treatment meted to Mr. Okechukwu, he had his spinal cord broken and is currently battling to stay alive at a private hospital in Enugu.
The financial appeal, being executed under by Anambra First, a non-partisan platform, said: “After pooling the funds together as we have done in past financial drives, we will present them to the beneficiary.”
It is being spearheaded by Chief Uche Nworah Ph.D, Convener of Anambra First on behalf of the Board of Administrators.
Sources confirmed that Okechukwu’s ordeal started on Friday, October 11, 2024 around 7am when an ASWAMA team “led by one Joseph Okoye and accompanied by two armed Nigeria Police Force operatives came to his house and mercilessly brutalized him, leaving him with a broken spinal cord following argument over unpaid ASWAMA levy.
“The most inhuman part of this is that after one of the policemen wove his hands through Mr Akaneme’s armpit and locked it behind his neck leading to his bone cracking, instead of taking him to the hospital immediately, they all ran away leaving the sexagenarian lying half dead on the floor. It was the neighbors and Mr. Akaneme’s employees that took him to Holy Rosary Specialist Hospital and Maternity, waterside, Onitsha from where he was referred to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, (NAUTH) Nnewi where he was driven to in the hospital’s Ambulance with life support.
“It was at NAUTH that an MRI examination conducted on him showed that his spinal cord has been damaged about 65%. He was later referred to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) for more expert care. He is currently at Memphis Hospital, Enugu, battling to remain alive with hopes of him ever walking again fast diminishing.”
The source noted that “the real tragedy of this whole case is that not a single soul has been held accountable for this heinous act. The head of ASWAMA who sent his boys on that murderous assignment, Mike Ifeanyi Ozoemena claims Mr. Akaneme is just pretending to be injured.
“The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Felix Odimegwu, whose Ministry oversees ASWAMA and as such, shares vicarious liability over this dastardly act, hasn’t deemed it necessary to wade in, if only to help save Mr. Akaneme’s life before any other thing.
“The State Governor who swore an oath to protect every life in Anambra and on whose table the buck stops, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo hasn’t done anything. Even the policemen who maimed this senior citizen walk the earth as free men.
“But even more worrisome is the conspiracy of silence by Anambra business and media community over this. It took over a month for Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, an organization Mr. Akaneme led in a distinguished manner between 2007 and 2012 to speak on this because in their delusion, they think condemning evil amounts to attacking government.”
