Segun Atanda/
Until he struck again for the umpteenth time on New Year Day, most Nigerians didn’t know how heartless Igwedibia Johnson, aka Don Wani, was.
Wani, who was killed at his hideout in Enugu yesterday, left a trail of crimes across the Niger Delta region where he had maintained a well kitted private army roaming the land without any serious challenge.
Case-hardened and cold blooded, Wani, the Omoku area commander of the dreaded Icelanders cult group operating in the Niger Delta region, never spared the young, the old, women or children when he strikes.
On New Year Day, he mowed down not less than 25 worshipers returning from the Cross-Over Service in Omoku, Rivers State, without batting an eye.
But that was not the first time Wani would be sending a message that he was the meanest militant in Rivers State.
In March 2016, Wani and his cult group had invaded Omoku, killed four brothers, decapitated two of them and kept the severed heads as trophies.
The victims were: 15-year-old SSS 2 student, Chisom Udoh; 23-year-old man identified as Christian; Felix Philip, a second year NCE student at Federal Government College, Omoku, and one Daniel, who was preparing to write his WASCE and UTME. They were killed inside a room.
Last November, Wani narrowly escaped death when the military raided his camp, shrines and mansions one early morning.
It was revealed after the raid that Wani’s home was a Hammer House of Horror.
Soldiers recovered 10 human skulls, various human bones, two AK-47 rifles, one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), 18 AK-47 rifle magazines, four pairs of military camouflage, five Camouflage T-Shirts, three Fabrique Nationale (FN) rifle magazines, 39 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition, 20 rounds of 9mm ammunition and one round of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition.
Skulls allegedly recovered from Wani’s mansion
Other items recovered, according to the military, included two bags weighing about 25kg, containing substances believed to be Cannabis (Marijuana), three ICOM handheld radios and two Mag One handheld radios.
Wani’s forces were able to hold the Nigerian Army in a gun-battle for over one hour before they were overpowered.
Many of the villains escaped through River Orashe in Omoku. The Nigerian troops, however, arrested seven members of the gang, including two ladies while they were trying to escape during the encounter.
Before then, Wani and his men had blown up Agip gas pipeline in Akala Olu village, Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State.
There have been many other reports of atrocities and wholesale killings by Wani’s gang in Rivers.
The Icelanders have also been involved in a fight for supremacy with another gang known as the Greenlanders.
NewsmakersNG learnt that Wani fell out with the founder and spiritual leader of Icelanders, Chief Ateke Tom. Their frequent bloody clashes left Rivers indigenes sleeping with one eye open.
Sources told NewsmakersNG that Wani was a member of the inner circle of executioners known as Nationals in the Icelanders group.
Wani had reportedly killed one of Ateke’s henchmen identified as Chekiri George Tolofari alias “Babangida” or “Executioner” at Bonny Creek in 2015.
Tolofari’s murder had then paralyzed business activities along the Cawthorne Channel Oil field.
Tolofari, who hailed from Kalaibiama in Grand Bonny Local Government Area and Okrika was a formidable force within the Ateke’s group. He was killed when his engine developed fault on the river.
NewsmakersNG learnt that the gangs have been in existence and have been receiving funding, even from the state government for about two decades.
In October 2006 the Rivers State government released over N15million to each of the rival gangs.
Besides its other illegal activities, Icelander collects large security and rental fees for each oil barge leaving the Okrika waterways. The group also provides ‘security services’ to chiefs, politicians, and others for a fee.
The gangs reportedly have more than 10,000 members in Rivers and Bayelsa states.
Wani was killed in a military operation in Enugu on Saturday.
The outgoing General Officer Commanding Six Division, Port Harcourt, Maj.- Gen. Enobong Udoh, said that security agencies, complying with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, had trailed Wani and his gang to their hideouts in Enugu.
Udoh, who had revealed last year that the rival gangs were being sponsored by politicians and traditional rulers, said, “We are happy to inform that Don Waney, a notorious cultist, kidnap kingpin and mass murderer who masterminded the murder of 23 worshipers returning from cross over service is dead.
“We traced Wani and some of his gang members to their hideout in Enugu town where they rented apartment and lived with other people in the neighborhood like normal people.
“The criminals were killed after a combined team of troops of 82 Division Army, Enugu and personnel of Department of State Security (DSS) raided his hideout to arrest him and his members.”
Udoh said the criminals on sighting the advance of security operatives to their residence attempted to escape through the back door of the apartment, but were shot by troops.
He added that others shot dead were Wani’s second-in-command, Ikechukwu Adiele, and another suspected gang member, Lucky Ode.
The GOC listed weapons recovered from the gang at their hideout as three AK 47 assault rifles and eight AK 47 magazines, among others.
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Why was he tolerated for so long? This bastard must have been backed up by some stupid and blood thirsty well meaning Nigerians in Niger Delta. For them to have known how much crime he had commited yet, he was a free man for so long saddens me.