On the quiet night of 1 September 2002, in the Awada district of Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria, the lives of Barnabas Chidi Igwe and his wife Abigail “Amaka” Igwe came to a brutal end. Barnabas, a respected lawyer and Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Onitsha branch, was well known for his sharp legal mind and unwavering public criticism of corruption in the state. His wife, Amaka, also a lawyer, shared both his ideals and his dangers.
That evening, as they drove home from an outing, their car was intercepted by armed men. Witnesses later told investigators that the assailants dragged the couple from their vehicle, hacked them with machetes, shot Barnabas, and drove over their bodies before speeding away. The assault was swift, calculated, and unrelenting, a message meant not merely to kill but to silence.
The murders were soon traced to the toxic atmosphere surrounding Anambra State’s politics at the time. Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju’s administration was under mounting criticism for failing to pay civil servants’ salaries and for sponsoring the vigilante group known as the Bakassi Boys. Under Igwe’s leadership, the Onitsha branch of the NBA had demanded accountability, transparency, and respect for human rights. His boldness, rare and dangerous, made him a marked man.
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Human Rights Watch later reported “strong, credible evidence” suggesting a political motive behind the killings. The same report linked the murders to a wider pattern of violence against critics of the state government. In the days that followed, outrage swept the legal community across Nigeria. The NBA declared the killings an attack on democracy, and on 10 September 2002, it called on the federal government to declare emergency rule in Anambra State.
The Path to Nowhere
In late June and July 2003, the Anambra Commissioner for Works and Transport, an Onitsha Bakassi camp commander, and ten others were brought before an Onitsha Chief Magistrate Court in connection with the murders. Later, on 11 November 2003, the Director of Public Prosecutions formally charged twelve suspects. Yet, like so many high-profile political cases in Nigeria, the process soon stalled in procedural fog.
No definitive conviction has ever been reported. No official closure has been granted. Families were left with the weight of unanswered questions, who ordered the hit, who paid the assassins, and why did justice hesitate?
In 2016, Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police ordered a fresh investigation, acknowledging that the trail had gone cold and that public confidence demanded answers. But as of today, the results of that investigation remain undisclosed, buried under layers of bureaucratic silence.
Legacy, Courage in the Face of Power
The murder of Barnabas and Amaka Igwe is more than a tragic headline, it is a measure of how fragile justice can be in the face of political power. Their deaths exposed a dark truth, that those who defend the law in Nigeria often do so without its protection.
The couple left behind children, colleagues, and a profession scarred by fear but strengthened by outrage. Their names continue to surface in discussions of legal ethics, human rights, and the courage to confront authority. The Nigerian Bar Association still marks their deaths as a symbol of resistance, proof that the voice of justice, though threatened, endures.
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Author’s Note
Reading about the Igwes, one feels not only the horror of their death but the weight of the silence that followed. Justice delayed became justice denied, and that denial has lingered for decades. Their story is a mirror held up to the nation, reminding us that silence in the face of power is complicity, and that courage, however costly, remains the lifeblood of change.
References
Human Rights Watch (2002), Nigeria: Government Critics at Risk After Political Killings.
The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News) (2002), Lawyers Demand Emergency Rule in Anambra State.
AllAfrica (2003), Mbadinuju’s Commissioner, 11 Others Charged With Murder.
International Commission of Jurists (2008), Attacks on Justice, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
ecoi.net (2003), Nigeria: Commissioner for Works and Transport Charged in Igwe Murder.
ICIR Nigeria (2016), IGP Orders Fresh Investigation into Igwe Murder Case.
NigeriaGenealogy.ng, Family Record of Barrister Barnabas Chidi Igwe.
