Obi of Onitsha was never meant to travel by Kaduna attacked train – Palace

The Palace of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe on Saturday evening released a detailed statement on the activities of the monarch in recent days following media reports that the Royal Majesty was saved from boarding the ill-fated train that was attacked by a terrorist group along the Abuja-Kaduna route on Monday, 28th March 2022, by a phone call.

This was disclosed in a statement released by Chinyelugo Osita Anionwu, Chief of Staff, Ime Obi Onitsha.

The statement read: “The ongoing media frenzy connecting the Obi of Onitsha with the unfortunate attack on the Abuja to Kaduna train by armed bandits on 28th March 2022, are nothing but false reports.

“The attention of Ime Obi Onitsha (the Palace) has been drawn to a story titled: ‘How Phone Call Saved Me From Boarding Attacked Train’ which was attributed to His Majesty Nnaemeka Achebe, CFR, mni, Obi of Onitsha by the authors of the story as having made the statement on Saturday, 02 April 2022,” a clear indication that the Obi never made such a statement on Saturday to anyone at any time.

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The Palace then subsequently made the following points to reiterate that the Obi was not in any danger as of 28th March 2022.

“While His Majesty was abroad, the Armed Forces Command and Staff Colege Jaji, Kaduna State, sent a letter dated 21st January 2022 inviting him to deliver a lecture on Tuesday 29th March 2022 to its armed training programme of officers from all security agencies in the country on internal securities.

“His Majesty on return to Onitsha on 08 February, accepted the invitation, keeping with his commitment along with his brother traditional rulers to the promotion of peace and harmony of the country.

“In discussing the options for His Majesty’s travel to Jaji with his host on 14 March, the option of travel by train from Abuja to Kaduna was considered and set aside in favour of road transport with adequate security escort.

“Thus, His Majesty travelled safely to Jaji on 28 March and returned to Abuja on 30 March with adequate security escort provided by the AFCSC, and no hitches whatsoever.

“On January 31st, His Majesty attended the South East leadership press conference at Enugu. In his brief goodwill message, he lamented the state of insecurity and violence in the country and drew attention to the train attack in which the Onitsha kingdom lost a young medical doctor, Chinelo Megafu.

Other than delivering the keynote press statement of the occasion, His Majesty did not engage the media on any subject whatsoever.

“It was in that connection that His Majesty mentioned casually that the option of his travelling by train had long been set aside in favour of road travel by mutual agreement with his hosts. No references were made to an imaginary phone call from anyone. This has been His Majesty’s only public reference to the train attack on 28th March.

“The news media were present at the Enugu meeting and one of them would be the source of a false and convoluted story claiming that His Majesty made the said statement on Saturday, 2nd April, 2022.

“It is absolutely callous to use such a distressful national tragedy to grab fake media attention, let us pray for God’s blessings and grace on our challenged country, he concluded.