The family of Chukwudi Ogbonna of Isigwe -Ugboawka in Nkanu East of Enugu State, who was allegedly murdered by neighbourhood watch group has raised alarm that lives of family members were no longer safe.
Chukwudi, 28 years old, was allegedly arrested, on August 28, 2019, by Community Neighbourhood Watch group for alleged vandalization of transformer in the community and was shot dead.
Although, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, EEDC, which owned the transformer that was said to have been vandalized by late Chukwudi, had written to the police investigators that their transformer wasn’t by Chukwudi, circumstances of his murder had been a subject of controversy.
A police Divisional Crime Officer, DCO, of the area, Matthew Asogwa and one Inspector Peter were said to have been responsible for the killing, as autopsy result should that he was killed with AK-47 bullet.
It was gathered that soon after the murder of Chukwudi, the police in Amagunze Division, arrested two neighbourhood watch group and later released them after they struck deal to cover the murder until when the elder sister of the deceased, Ms Juliet Ogbonna, petitioned the Inspector General of Police, who immediately directed Police Zone 9 Umuahia, to investigate the murder.
After operatives from Zone 9 had investigated the killing, two vigilante members from Ugboawka Community in the name of Chidiebere Ogbodo and Chukwu Ifeanyi were indicted for murder. They were subsequently arraigned in court and remanded at the Enugu maximum Correctional Centre.
Speaking to our correspondent, the elder sister of the deceased, Ms Ogbonna, said that since the duo were remanded in custody, their family members have been under threat, adding that all her siblings are taking refuge at the city for fear of their lives.
She said, “it was on August 28, 2019 that we received a call from the village that our late brother was caught vandalizing a transformer that has never been in use for over 30 years and was killed.
“Our brother is not an electrician. We have no report of him stealing before and you know that when someone is called a thief, no one stands with the person, especially when the person has no body, no father and helpless.
“After our little investigation, we found out that some enemies of our family and brother set him up using that transformer which was mounted opposite our family house in the village.
We went to see the DPO covering the area at Amagunze Nkanu, we told him that the said vandalized transformer was still under lock and key. The DPO told us that they have called the EEDC officials to come to fix it. This was within three days of the incident that the EEDC officials had already fixed according to the DPO.
Ogbonna added, “This transformer has never been in use ever since I was born. Light has not come into that community up till today.
With this Dpo comment and refused to let us see the corpse. He postponed us three times and we knew something was fishy. With the way my brother was brutalized and murdered we seek Inspector General of Police help for justice. So, our petition was transferred from Abuja to Umuahia.
“Immediately zone 9 had summoned the DPO for explanation at Umuahia, two days later, we received a call from the village that the said transformer has been vandalized. So the chairman of our community went to report the incident to the same Amagunze Police Division.
“We have the pictures when the transformer was under lock and key and when it was vandalized. We also have the pictures of our late brother when he was alive and when he died in police van.
“After police investigations, two members of the neighbourhood watch were arraigned in the Magistrate Court and was later transferred to Enugu High Court. The two men who accepted that they shot my brother were remanded in Enugu correctional facility.
“Since them we have been receiving call threats. None of my siblings are living in the community again for fear of being killed too. We want protection and we justice for our late brother,” she begged the authority.
Ogbonna, further stated that result of an autopsy conduct on the corpse of their brother showed that the bullet that killed him was from AK-47.
“Now we are getting rumors from village that those who killed our brother were collecting money from villagers to bribe the Attorney General of the state to enter ‘nolle proseque’ in the case,” she narrated.
