A fresh storm has erupted over the 2002 assassination of former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chairman in Onitsha, Barnabas Igwe, and his wife, Abigail, with Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s Special Adviser on Security, Ken Emeakayi, named as a key figure who allegedly has unanswered questions over the unresolved case.
Former Chairman of the Anambra State Truth, Justice and Peace Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, made the explosive claim while speaking in an online interview with Noble Nigeria, insisting that findings from the commission’s investigation pointed to the need for the matter to be reopened.
Odinkalu, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said the commission’s report, which he personally submitted to the Anambra State Government in March 2024, recommended further investigation into Emeakayi and others allegedly linked to the operation that led to the couple’s death.
The killing of the Igwes remains one of Nigeria’s most controversial unsolved political assassinations. The couple, both lawyers, were murdered in Onitsha on September 1, 2002, shortly after attending the NBA national conference in Ibadan.
At the time, Barnabas Igwe, who headed the NBA Onitsha branch, was a vocal critic of the administration of former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju, especially over the state government’s failure to pay workers’ salaries.
Human Rights Watch had previously stated that there was strong evidence suggesting the killing was politically motivated.
According to Odinkalu, the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission’s investigation linked the attack to elements of the Bakassi Boys, a vigilante group that operated under the state’s security structure at the time.
He alleged that Emeakayi, who was then connected to the security arrangement in the state, was identified in the commission’s findings as the person who led the operation.
Odinkalu further revealed that Abigail Igwe was pregnant when she was killed alongside her husband.
“Ken Emeakayi, on the basis of the report of the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission, has questions that remain unanswered,” Odinkalu said, adding that the development represented “a blot on the record” of Governor Soludo.
The human rights lawyer explained that the commission revisited the case after Soludo mandated it to investigate Anambra’s troubled past, including unresolved cases of violence and killings.
Efforts to prosecute Emeakayi had reportedly begun years earlier after his arrest and detention around 2006 over allegations connected to murder. However, the case collapsed after the judge handling the matter was reportedly removed and a prison break later led to his release.
More than two decades after the brutal killing of the Igwes, Odinkalu’s fresh claims have reopened public debate over who should answer for one of Anambra’s darkest political mysteries.
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