Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme, former President of the Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, brutalized by agents of the Anambra State Government at his home in Onitsha, has died.
Precisely on October 11, 2024, Mr. Akaneme was at home in Onitsha when revenue agents working for the Anambra State Waste Management Agency – ASWAMA in the early hours of the morning came for levy enforcement and in that process broke his spinal cord and thereafter abandoned him and left. His neighbours and employees later took him to the hospital, and it was eventually confirmed that his spinal cord was damaged by up to 65% by the levy collectors.
A respected business and community leader, Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme was a former Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in Onitsha. Since October last year, when he was rendered bedridden by the agents of the Anambra State Government, he was admitted to Rosary Specialist Hospital, Onitsha, before he was moved to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where it was confirmed that his spinal cord had been irreversibly damaged. He was thereafter transferred to Memfys Neurosurgery Hospital, Enugu. Throughout the time, the government of Anambra State continued to claim that Mr. Akaneme was not seriously injured and therefore refused to commit to his treatment. However, some groups, including Anambra First, raised money to assist the family in the treatment of the late Okechukwu Akaneme.
Until his death, it is unclear if the Anambra State Government later took responsibility for the hospital bills of Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme, as they had promised, when the spinal injury had deteriorated.
There are heavy concerns about the crude methods of revenue collection under the present Anambra State Government, with the use of touts. Concerns have also heightened about enforcers under the aegis of SASA, a state agency, armed with pestles used to dismember knee joints and other parts of the body, as has been severely captured in videos. Only a few weeks ago, armed state agents caused pandemonium in Obosi as they went on a deliberate destruction of private and community properties, injuring many in the process.
- Management of Zara Stores Opens New Outlet in Onitsha - October 9, 2025
- NSCDC’s Prof. Audi says Nigeria Records 1,700 Pipeline Vandalism Points - October 9, 2025
- Chief Ben Etiaba to Chair Ikenga Day 2025, in Paris - September 18, 2025