Crown & Council Law Partners issues ultimatum to Anambra Government as breakthrough exposes deadly operations of state-sponsored vigilante group
By NOHR Correspondent
October 6, 2025
A Lagos-based law firm has issued a thirty-day ultimatum to the Anambra State Government, threatening Federal High Court action over allegations that a state-recognized vigilante group has killed at least thirty citizens and abducted dozens more in a three-year reign of terror across Anambra and Imo States.
The pre-action notice from Crown & Council Law Partners comes on the heels of a major breakthrough by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), whose July 2025 petition to authorities forced the deadly Ndikeokwu-Uli Vigilante Outfit into hiding and led to the rescue of six captives from torture camps.
What began as a community security initiative has devolved into what human rights investigators describe as a sophisticated criminal operation involving extrajudicial killings, mass abductions, extortion, and property destruction. The Uli Central Vigilante Group, operating under the official recognition of Anambra State’s Ministry of Homeland Security and Vigilante Services, has systematically terrorized residents of Amorka and Uli in Anambra State, as well as Egbuoma and Ohakpu communities across the border in Imo State.
Following Intersociety’s petition in July 2025, the Anambra State Government-owned Agunaechemba Security Outfit raided vigilante camps in Uli, rescuing four captives. Two additional victims were freed from Onitsha Army Barracks after being tracked by the human rights organization. The raids forced vigilante operatives to flee and go underground, providing temporary relief to besieged communities.
However, Crown & Council Law Partners, representing the people of Egbuoma Autonomous Community in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, argue that justice remains elusive. Their pre-action notice, signed by Principal Partner Ezennia Denton Ogbuehi and addressed to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Anambra State Attorney-General, the Commissioner for Homeland Security, and the Commissioner of Police, demands immediate and comprehensive action.
Field investigations coordinated by Intersociety documented at least thirty confirmed deaths since 2022, with ten victims from Egbuoma community alone.
According to Intersociety’s investigation, victims were routinely falsely labelled as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Eastern Security Network (ESN), or Unknown Gunmen before being killed or disappeared. This pretext, the human rights organization notes, has been used to justify the killing of over 20,000 defenceless, unprocessed, and untried citizens across Southeast Nigeria since August 2015.
Perhaps the most chilling evidence of the vigilante group’s operations comes from Kosarachi Ohajuba, a survivor who provided detailed testimony to Intersociety after his rescue on September 4, 2025.
Abducted on June 20, 2025, Ohajuba was held in a Uli torture camp where he found eighteen other male captives. When he and three others were transferred to a nearby Army camp, only four remained alive. Fourteen had been executed.
Beyond the killings, the vigilante group ran what investigators describe as a sophisticated extortion operation, collecting millions of naira as “ransoms” or “bail fees” from families of abducted victims.
The violence has extended beyond targeted killings and abductions to include mass property destruction. On Friday, July 11, 2025, the vigilante group invaded a popular junction near Afor-Egbu Market in Ebenano Village, Egbuoma, in broad daylight. Armed operatives opened fire indiscriminately and looted electronics, fuel, phones, and beer from residents and traders.
At least ten houses in Egbuoma, particularly in Ebenano village, have been burned or destroyed during various raids since 2022. Victims whose homes were razed include Late Clement Ajari, Late Lolo Odalanya Obiwuru, David Ohajuba, Marcel Obidiukwu, and Ikechukwu Ben.
Intersociety’s investigation uncovered disturbing allegations of official complicity extending beyond state government oversight. The petition alleges that the vigilante group operated in collusion with personnel from a Nigerian security agency in Imo and Anambra states, though specific details were not disclosed in public documents.
Government Inaction Despite Repeated Warnings
Crown & Council Law Partners emphasize in their pre-action notice that authorities were repeatedly alerted to the crisis without taking meaningful preventive action. On July 25, 2025, the same day Intersociety submitted its petition, the law firm sent formal letters to Prince Ken Emeakai, Special Adviser on Community Security to the Anambra State Governor, and Dr. Ikioye Orutugu, Commissioner of Police for Anambra State Command.
Copies were also forwarded to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo and other security stakeholders. According to the lawyers, acknowledgement of receipt was confirmed, yet attacks continued, culminating in the most recent incursions in July 2025.
Crown & Council Law Partners contend that the Anambra State Government bears direct and vicarious liability for the vigilante group’s actions, as the organization operates under official state recognition through the Ministry of Homeland Affairs and Anambra Vigilante Services. This governmental imprimatur, they argue, emboldened the group to act with impunity, even conducting systematic operations across state boundaries.
The law firm has set forth specific demands that must be met within thirty days to avoid Federal High Court litigation. These include immediate cessation of all cross-border operations by the vigilante group, release of any remaining abducted persons, prompt arrest and prosecution of identified perpetrators, and payment of ₦10 billion (ten billion naira) in general and exemplary damages to victims and the Egbuoma community.
Additionally, the notice demands a public apology through full-page advertisements in five national newspapers and prime-time broadcasts on AIT and TVC, acknowledging the atrocities and pledging non-recurrence.
