When Power Replaces Justice: Amasiri Daughter Accuses Governor Nwifuru Of Collective Punishment
Moments of crisis often reveal the true character of leadership.
In Ebonyi State, a tragic killing has sparked not only grief and outrage, but also a fierce debate over justice, power, and the limits of executive authority.
A prominent indigene of the Amasiri community, Princess (Dr) Joy Omagha Idam, has issued a strongly worded open letter condemning the sanctions imposed by Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, following the gruesome killing of residents in the Okporojo area.
While describing the killings as “gruesome and completely unjustifiable,” the publisher of Weekenders Magazine Online argued that the governor’s response amounted to collective punishment rather than justice.
She accused the administration of bias, abuse of executive power, and a dangerous disregard for due process.
In the letter addressed directly to the governor, Idam, expressed anger and disappointment over the dissolution of Amasiri’s entire leadership and political structure, including traditional rulers, town union executives, village heads, and appointed government officials, without what she described as a transparent investigation or judicial process.
According to her, crimes are committed by individuals, not communities, and punishing Amasiri as a whole is “unconstitutional, morally indefensible, and dangerously precedential.”
She warned that such actions undermine the rule of law and send a troubling signal that power, rather than truth, determines guilt in Ebonyi State.
Idam further criticised what she called selective justice, noting that although the governor acknowledged the conflict as a long-standing boundary dispute involving multiple communities, only Amasiri was publicly sanctioned and portrayed in a negative light.
“Leadership is judged by actions, not statements,” she wrote, describing the dismissal of elected and appointed officials without indictment or trial as executive overreach driven by emotion rather than law.
She cautioned that peace cannot be achieved through intimidation or scapegoating, warning that collective punishment risks deepening resentment and fuelling further conflict in an already fragile environment.
Calling for an urgent rethink, Idam urged the governor to order an independent and impartial investigation into the killings, arrest and prosecute the actual perpetrators regardless of their community, and immediately review and reverse what she described as “blanket sanctions on innocent persons.”
She concluded by reminding the governor that authority does not equate to infallibility, stressing that the people of Ebonyi and the international community are watching closely, and that history will judge whether justice or intimidation prevails.
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