By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Some yet-to-be-identified gunmen have reportedly murdered a former President General of Amansea community in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Chief Cajetan Nwokike.
The incident happened in the early hours of Thursday when the community leader was said to be performing his traditional morning prayer of breaking of kola nut, before the gunmen stormed.
This is coming barely two months after another community leader and President-General of Umuoji, Chief Silas Onyima, was brutally murdered right inside his bathroom by a group of assassins.
Confirming the latest (Nwokike’s) assassination through a statement made available to newsmen on Friday, the National President of the Association of Past Presidents-General of Anambra State (APPAS), Mazi Omife I. Omife, said the deceased was shot on the head by the gunmen, which led to his instant death.
The statement partly read: “The Association of Past Presidents-General of Anambra State (APPAS) has received the shocking news of the brutal death of one of her members, Chief Cajetan Nwokike, former PG Amansea, who was allegedly shot dead by unknown gunmen yesterday morning in his house at Amansea.
“The report said that late Cajetan Nwokike was performing his traditional morning prayer of breaking of kola nut that fateful morning when two young men entered his house and shot him point blank on the head, killing him instantly.”
When this reporter, Izunna Okafor, contacted him, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Anambra State Police Command, SP Ikenga Tochukwu, confirmed the incident, and added that the Command was already investigating the issue.
“We received the report of the murder case and we visited the scene immediately. We recovered the body of the deceased and expended cartridges from the scene and also cordoned off the scene.
“We have also begun an investigation into the matter. And we are already getting some useful information that is helping us in carrying out the investigation,” the Police Spokesman said in a telephone interview with this reporter.