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A bitter dispute over a proposed private school in Ikorodu, Lagos State, has reportedly turned deadly, as gunmen suspected to be linked to an Islamic group allegedly killed a young man months after his elder sister was attacked and forced to flee Nigeria.
The deceased, Chukwudi Ojukwu, was reportedly murdered on Saturday in what family sources described as the latest chapter in a long-running campaign of threats, violence and intimidation targeted at their family over the school project.
His elder sister, Isabella Umeh, the school proprietress had earlier allegedly been beaten, threatened with death and chased out of the country after she began plans to establish a private primary school on her land in the area.
Sources who spoke with The Sun said the trouble started shortly after the woman began work on the school project. According to them, some men allegedly confronted her at the site and ordered her to stop, claiming that a parcel of land opposite her property had been set aside for a mosque.
The sources alleged that the men, said to be members of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, warned her that if she did not abandon the school project, they would “deal with” her and her family.
One source told The Sun that the matter had been festering for a long time and did not begin with the killing of Chukwudi.
“This problem has been there for a long time,” the source said. “It started from the moment she decided to set up the school in that area. They did not want that school there. They first attacked the sister of the deceased, and she had to run back to her base in Qatar to save her life. They told her plainly that if she continued, they would deal with her and her family. They beat her and tried to kill her, but for the intervention of people nearby, she might not have survived.”
Following the attack, the matter was said to have been reported to the police. However, family members alleged that no arrest was made, no serious investigation was carried out, and no protection was provided.
Another source who lives in the area, who pleaded anonymity and also spoke with The Sun, insisted that Chukwudi’s killing was not random, but a direct continuation of the earlier threats surrounding the school land.
“They had already warned the family. They attacked the sister first and she escaped. When the brother stepped in to continue the project, they came for him,” the source said.
The case has triggered concern among residents and rights observers, especially as it touches on alleged religious hostility, land dispute, intimidation, and the violent silencing of a woman whose only aim was to build a school and contribute meaningfully in the community.
When contacted, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Adebisi, confirmed the incident. She, however, promised to get back to our reporter after making further inquiries.
As of the time of filing this report, The Sun had yet to receive further response from the police.
