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David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The people of Odobo village, Nzam in Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State are still perplexed and asking why the killers of Mrs Uju Chidokwe and her son, Nwabunwanne Christopher, 28, have not been arrested and prosecuted almost one year after the gruesome murder.
The villagers are even more worried and surprised that since June 26, 2017 when the mother and son were murdered, four petitions had separately been written and addressed to the Director, Public Complaints Commission, Director of State Security Services, Director, Citizens Rights Directorate and the State Director, Legal Aid Council all in Awka, Anambra State without any arrest and prosecution of the suspects who are still at large.
Petitions from Nzam community said the unfortunate incident happened in the family of Nwabunwanne Chidokwe who had two wives. And trouble started when one of the sons of the first wife died after a brief sickness and family members of the first wife allegedly accused their father and the second wife of being responsible for the death of the first wife’s son.
The issue was said to have degenerated to the option of traditional oath-taking amongst members of the family. Consequently, the source said, the second wife and her son living at Aboh in Delta State were requested to return home for the family oath-taking.
In a copy of the petition, obtained by Sunday Sun, the community stated: “Uju and her son then left their place of residence in Delta State to comply with the family’s request to participate in the oath-taking not knowing that the suspects had planned to murder them on their way home.
“They successfully arrived a town called Illah in Delta State and went to the River Niger bank to board any of the engine boats to cross River Niger to Nzam town.
“What the suspects did was to send one of the speedboats owned by one of the suspects (name withheld) who is a member of the family and operated by one of his trusted workers. Attempts made by various passengers coming to the same town to board the same speedboat were resisted by the boat operator. The deceased woman and her son were seen being taken to Nzam in the speedboat by the driver on June 26, 2017, which is about 15 minutes from the town. But just before they got to Nzam, two of them, mother and son, got missing.”
The petitioners said that having not seen the two when they were supposed to be home, alarm was raised in the town which led to formation of a search party including the policemen dispatched to search for the woman and her 28-year-old son.
“Sadly, their dead bodies were discovered on June 29, 2017, floating along the River Niger with knife-cuts and their hands tied backwards with their legs. Since the day their bodies were recovered, the two sons of the first wife and the driver of the speedboat took to their heels and have not been seen till date.”
The petitioners asked for help so that the case could be prosecuted to a logical conclusion and to serve as a deterrent to other criminal-minded ones. The petitioners said all the suspects were at large and all efforts made to know their whereabouts have been unsuccessful.
When contacted on the phone, the President General of the town, Prince Okolo Victor, confirmed the incident. He said the matter was being handled by the State Criminal Investigation Department, Awka, and that the suspects could not be arrested as no one knew where they were as at the time of filing this report. Mr Chinweuba Emmanuel from Odobo village also confirmed that all the suspects had been at large.
When our Correspondent visited the office of the Public Complaints Commission, Awka, the Director, Barrister Ogbuozobe Paul told him that the commission had sent the case to the office of the Commissioner of Police for investigation and promised to find out what had happened to the investigation.
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Awka, Prince Nkiruka Nwode (ASP) said she had just resumed duties and would rather prefer a text message from the reporter.
