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By Lawrence Agbo
Mr. Nwalozie Chiwendu, a middle-aged man, has been accused of brutally attacking his brother, Mr. Chidiebere Isaiah, with a cutlass because he practised witchcraft.
The tragedy happened at approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday in Umunwacha village, Ofeh community, Omuma Local Government Area, Rivers State.
Chiwendu accused his brother of practising witchcraft and using it to thwart his business achievement, according to the residents.
Multiple machete wounds were reportedly found on the deceased’s body, and local authorities have initiated a manhunt for the culprit, who is presently at large.
The community has already begun searching for the offender and has promised to capture the suspect and turn him over to law officials for a thorough inquiry.
The Youth President of Ofeh community, Mr Chinonso Favour Chima, described the incident as a very unfortunate situation.
Chima said, “Yesterday within the evening hours, I got a call from some of my community persons telling me of the sad incident that happened between two brothers of the same compound.
“I cannot tell what happened, but the story is that the younger one carried cutlass and butchered his elder brother like meat and ran away, before the persons that were around in the community could come.
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“So, after I received the call, I directed them to quickly rush him to the hospital and I was running down from town to see how we can attend to the matter.
“On my way, they took him to the first hospital, but they could not attend to him, before they could reach another hospital, the man gave up. Because it is a murder case, I told them we cannot deposit him in the mortuary just like that. We then reported it to the nearest Police Division within us here, notifying them of what happened and Police have taken note of it.
“The boy that committed the crime is on the run, we are looking for him. Community has declared a search for him everywhere. We are searching for him to get him so that he can face the full wrath of the law.
“But for now, we have deposited the deceased in the mortuary. I have also tried to address the community and ask everybody to stay calm, we should not take laws into our hands. Let us not cause more panic in the community, we are still talking with critical stakeholders of the community. For now, everything is calm.”
The Police Division in the Eberi, Omuma Local Government Area, has already been informed of the incident.
CSP Grace Iringe-Koko, a Rivers State police spokesman who verified the occurrence, stated that the police have started a manhunt to apprehend the offender.
She said, “Information at my disposal indicates that the suspect used cutlass to machete the victim to death after accusing him (victim) of witchcraft that made him (suspect) not to prosper.
“The corpse has been retrieved, deposited in the Mortuary and a manhunt has been launched for the suspect with a view to arresting and bringing him to face the law in compliance to the directive of Commissioner of Police, CP Olugbenga Adepoju.”
