Igwedibia Johnson (a.k.a Don Wanny), the notorious militant leader from Omoku in Rivers State, killed Sunday by a joint security forces had once resided along Fulga Street in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State 24 years ago as an innocent and hard working businessman; an investigation by StraightNews has shown.
StraightNews gathered from an anonymous source that Wanni, who lived in a house close to Faith and Power Church from 1994 to 1998 as a big boy, operated a drinking joint along Idoro road in Uyo and was an owner of a BMW car then.
“I used to think what business the guy was doing. He looked innocent, but was operating a small drinking joint along Idoro road. He was a big boy in town. He might have joined dubious gang a long time otherwise, how did he acquire BMW car the then?” he posited.
Before his brutal killing by a combined force of OSPAC (ONELGA Security outfit) and security agents in Enugu State, he was a holder of Ejima IGWE Dibia chieftaincy title from Omoku in Rivers State conferred on him due to his social and financial influence.
Wanni who was among gang leaders who recently accepted the amnesty granted by Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike has been repeatedly accused of returning to crime and been responsible for several criminal acts and killings in the Omoku neighbourhood.
Few weeks ago, Barr. Osi Olisa, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Council (ONELGA) in a statement, had condemned the dastardly killing of two OSPAC personnel and a civilian in Okposi and Omoku respectively, describing it as “vicious and despicable.”
The statement had also accused Don Wanni and “forces” loyal to him of being behind the violent attack, and urged OSPAC and other security outfits to get to the bottom of the matter.
Meanwhile, indigenes and residents of Omoku have greeted the reports of Don Wanni’s death with excitement as they trooped to the council’s secretariat to catch a glimpse of the corpse.
Suspected to be a supporter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Rivers State, Wanni was alleged to be responsible for the killing of several Rivers indigenes, among whom were one Chief Adube and his three children; the beheading of Franklyn Obi and the killing of his wife and son; the murder of several APC members and the arson on the home of Vincent Ogbuagu, as well as several others in and around Omoku in Ogba /Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
In the early hours of Monday, November 20, 2017, troops of 6 Division Nigerian Army acting on credible information from some patriotic members of the public raided the evil Don Wanni enclave in Omoku in ONELGA, Rivers State and discovered assorted weapons, dynamites, bags of suspected cannabis, full military camouflage uniforms, military boots, military communication radios, 10 human skulls and human bones.
In continuation of the operation, the troops also exhumed decomposing bodies of some of his victims from his shrine on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 in the glaring eyes of the media who were invited to witness first hand.
As a reprissal, Wanni angered that some people in his neighbourhood volunteered information to the soldiers to desecrate his shrine masterminded the despicable New Year day mayhem by sending 23 defenceless persons in Omoku who were returning from cross-over Service at about 2 a.m. on Monday, January 1, 2018 to their graves.
However, operatives of Department of State Services (DSS) Rivers State Command carried out intense surveillance activities on him and his gang after they had committed the atrocities. Sensing danger, the dreaded murderer relocated to a neighbourhood within Enugu town where he rented an apartment and started living among unsuspecting neighbours within the community.
From the relative safety of his newly-rented apartment, Wanni was already perfecting plans to wreck again mayhem in churches, schools, army and Police locations and the residences of the already traumatized Omoku people.
After a successful geo-location to his new Enugu neighbourhood hide-out, the DSS Rivers State Command, a combined team of troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army Enugu and personnel of DSS Rivers State Command raided the hideout to arrest him and his other accomplices.
On sensing that the combined team was closing on his residence, Wanni, his Second- in- Command (Ikechukwu Adiele) and another gang member (Lucky Ode) bolted to escape through the back exit of the apartment and were shot down by the eagle eyed troops in the process.
One of them died on the spot while the other 2 who sustained gunshot wounds eventually died while being evacuated for medical attention.
