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Hon. Prince Ned Nwoko, left and Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie.

By Fred Akpewe
Bosah Osemeka, also known as Ossy Bosah was an inmate at Suleja correctional facility for two months. He had heard of Regina Daniels, the wife of Prince Ned Nwoko as the brand ambassador of a product known as SAPPHIRE.

While still in prison he once overheard some inmates discussing a plot to assassinate Prince Ned Nwoko, a plot that was said to be linked to an oil magnate from Delta State who owns several filling stations. Ossy Bosah promptly used a link (Wale Jana) to alert Regina Daniels about the plot, who in turn wasted no time in intimating her husband. That aside, Ossy Bosah made useful statements to the Police about what he heard at the Suleja correctional facility.

Ossy Bosah is known to have made the following safety concerns.
“There is no way they would know it’s me but I am not scared if I am assured of my security in Abuja.” He had further said “I don’t care if I am called to testify in their presence even if my face is not covered so far my security is secured afterwards”.

The frightening scenario is that shortly after making his statements to the Police and making some posts in the social media, Ossy Bosah suddenly died mysteriously. We are aware that Ossy Bosah was threatened several times including phone calls made to him when he went to complain to the Police. The Police has also made statements to the effect that Ossy was terrified by the threat before he died mysteriously two weeks later.

We recall that Prince Ned Nwoko had published the assassination attempt on his life in a National Daily Newspaper while also petitioning the Commissioner of Police, FCT command on the same subject.

Gabriel Ogbechie in his Vanguard advertorial on page 33 of Friday, February 19, 2021 titled “Ned Nwoko’s Assassination story, a hoax. The truth of the matter”, went on a roller coaster journey to establish his innocence. In doing so he said inter alia:
“On the 4th of December, 2020, I had an audience with the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command where I read the said petition and pointed out the fact that same was speculative with three layers of hearsay: the prisoner telling Wale Jana, Wale Jana telling Regina Daniels, who then tells Ned Nwoko. Interestingly the prisoner and /or Wale Jana never mentioned my name.” And “frankly, the truth of Ned Nwoko’s allegation is that they are a work of fiction, a poor movie script that has reached the end”.

The very essence of Gabriel Ogbechie’s denial is a poor alibi as he wants the world to believe that Ossy Bosah does not exist as “he exists only in the imagination of Ned Nwoko”. Gabriel Ogbechie also claims that the death of Ossy Bosah was contrived just to implicate him.

The truth is that Ossy Bosah is not a phantom. He died under questionable circumstances after making useful statement to the Police in his own handwriting.
He also made an attempt to see Prince Ned Nwoko to personally intimate him of the assassination plot and dropped a message with his phone number as 07059187068. This number can be verified by his service provider.

The sudden death of Ossy Bosah who should have been the key witness in this assassination saga casts doubt on Gabriel Ogbechie’s presumed innocence. In normal Police investigation procedure, Ogbechie should be regarded as the prime suspect. Even in his own testimony in the Vanguard Advertorial he claimed that the inmates in question were not in Kuje correctional facility but were in fact in Suleja correctional facility. While now claim that Ossy Bosah does not exist and that even his death is a contrivance? The obfuscation of facts by Ogbechie points to a confused mind that has something to hide, if not outright culpability.
Note that this is not the first time that people connected to the Idumuje-Ugboko crises will die mysteriously. We recall that in the beginning of the Idumuje-Ugboko reign of terror in 2017, Prince Nonso ostracized Professor Prince Somayina Gabriel Nwoko, OON, a retired Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Ibadan. In spite of the fact that the Nwokos are blessed with longevity with so many of them living above 90 years, Professor Nwoko died under mysterious circumstances. Even the former Obi, HRM Albert Nwoko III died in mysterious circumstances, Prince Somayina Nwoko’s offence was that he tried to redirect Prince Nonso and his sponsors from acts of banditry and terrorism.

We recall also that the Demas Nwoko, one of the contenders to the throne before Obi Albert was coronated in 1981 declined to become Obi as he did not have interest in the traditional kingship stool. It was a combination of these factors that set the stage for Prince Nonso, effectively backed financially by Gabriel Ogbechie, to seek absolute control of the Kingdom while silencing every voice of opposition to his quest. Gabriel Ogbechie’s denials and contradictory remarks are poorly rehearsed scripts. He had first denied that he was neither invited by the Police let alone be interrogated on ground of an assassination allegation. Yet he has now admitted that he was before the Commissioner of Police, FCT command.

Perhaps in order to understand how neck-deep Ogbechie is in the Idumuje-Ugboko crises, one needs to refer to some aspects of Prince Daniel Nwoko’s memos to him. Prince Daniel who is now 90 years old had admonished Ogbechie thus:
“You are a free born of Idumuje-Ugboko and as such you should regard every other citizen as your brother or sister. You should not single out Prince Nonso as the only person living in the community..…… instead you are only interested in staff of office to the detriment of other people living in the Kingdom where Nonso will reign. You don’t care if they will burn to ashes or go to blazes.“
Asking Gabriel Ogbechie to calm down, Prince Daniel Nwoko says:-
“Please calm down with your millions which you are throwing around and face the realities of the problem on hand …….. the millions you dole out to Prince Nonso, 75% of the sum goes to Barrister Mbanefo as legal fees, transport or other exigencies. This has also enabled him to become an obstacle to peace in the Royalty.”
Daniel Nwoko also says “If Barrister Mbanefo today leaves the scene, and if you stop funding Nonso today, there will be peace in Idumuje-Ugboko”.

The above memos establish Ogbechie as the man who has been funding the Idumuje-Ugboko crises right from 2015 till date. In a related development, some persons were sponsored by Prince Nonso and company to write a petition to the IGP that Prince Ned Nwoko was forcibly taking the ancestral lands of Idumuje=Ugboko people with the aid of the Police. These allegations were investigated by the Police and found to be false. For giving false information, Chris Aligbe, Banye and Okey Ifejoku are to be prosecuted. The extent of Ogbechie’s resentment for peace and his refusal to obey constituted authority can be gleaned from his continuous reference to Prince Nonso as the Obi of the community even when the Aniocha North Rulers Committee had endorsed the new Obi, HRM Solomon Eziokwubundu Nwabuokei Nwoko who was presented by Idumuje-Ugboko people led by the Iyase of the Kingdom as the new Obi of Idumuje-Ugboko.

As a deviant, he has also shown his penchant to disregard the authority of the Aniocha North Local Government Council which like the Aniocha North Traditional Rulers Council has transmitted a letter to the Delta State Government to recognize HRM Solomon Nwabuokei Nwoko and present him with a staff of office.
Also, it is not true when Ogbechie remarked in his newspaper advertorial that he and Prince Nonso are in support of the establishment of the university in the town. Was it not Prince Nonso and his backers that wrote to the Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Universities Commissioner (NUC) objecting to the establishment of university in the community.
• Fred Akpewe is a public affairs analyst and commentator.