Operatives of Agunechemba, a vigilante group in Anambra State, on Saturday, disrupted a conference organised by Kegites Club International in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
Kegites Club International is a prominent, socio-cultural student society dedicated to promoting African culture through music, dance, and camaraderie.
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The incident occurred at the Peakcastle Hotel in Awka while club members were holding their first conference and the inauguration of their leadership.
In a video clip circulating on Facebook, some of the armed vigilante operatives were seen assaulting club members and forcing them to vacate the hotel premises.
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“Loose this banner now and destroy it,” a leader of the vigilante team ordered.
The banner was torn apart by one of the operatives immediately.
The club members were seen running helter-skelter while the operatives hit them repeatedly with sticks.
Those who fell during the chaos were flogged further and even trampled by their colleagues scrambling for safety.
Anthony Chijioke, the club’s spokesperson in Anambra, confirmed the news to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.
Mr Chijioke said the vigilante operatives invaded their conference venue in the middle of their event.
When asked why vigilante operatives targeted the club, the spokesperson said he would provide further details later as he was currently on an assignment.
PREMIUM TIMES later gathered that the incident was linked to an internal leadership crisis within the club.
According to sources, the targeted conference was held by a Kegites Club faction in Anambra that had recently split from its parent body.
It was reported that one faction of the club petitioned the Agunechemba vigilante group with allegations that a rival group meeting in Awka was cultists, a claim that triggered the subsequent raid.
Meanwhile, Onyebuchi Ifeanyi, the chairperson of the Kegites Club Supreme Anambra Hemisphere, was heard claiming in a video clip circulating on Facebook that the operatives disrupted the conference because unnamed former leadership of the club had “personal grievances” with the club’s current leadership and wanted to “fight back.”
“You don’t fight back on the supreme comradium; you find a way to make peace,” he said.
In another clip seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Ifeanyi narrated that the rival club had petitioned some government agencies, including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the police in Anambra, in a failed attempt to stop them from holding the conference.
He said both the commissioner of police and the permanent secretary at the ministry separately asked the club to go ahead with the conference and instructed the rival group to allow the event, recalling that they had obtained police approval to hold the event.
The factional chairperson claimed that the rival group convinced a top official in the Anambra State Government to petition Agunechemba to stop the conference.
He claimed that he had now met with the official who petitioned the security operatives to carry out the disruption.
“Yesterday, I met with the permanent secretary to the Secretary of the state government, and he told me categorically that he was deceived; that they lied to him.
“In front of me, he took a phone and called one of the directors for Udogachi,” he claimed.
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Agunechemba silent
The General Commander of Agunechemba Vigilante Group in Anambra State, Ken Emeakayi, did not respond to calls seeking his comments on Wednesday.
PREMIUM TIMES also contacted the spokesperson of the vigilante group, Nweke Nweke, who confirmed the incident.
“I think that matter is a sensitive matter,” Mr Nweke said, before asking our reporter to reach Mr Emeakayi instead.
When informed that the general commander had been contacted multiple times but had not responded, the spokesperson asked our reporter to contact him again via text message.
Mr Emeakayi also did not respond to a text message seeking his comment hours later.
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