Posted by By Chuks Onuoha,Umuahia on
A 28-year-old widow in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, who alerted villagers at night that her brother-in-law and his wife were bent on killing her that night because of a land dispute, has been found dead the following morning.
A 28-year-old widow in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, who alerted villagers at night that her brother-in-law and his wife were bent on killing her that night because of a land dispute, has been found dead the following morning. She was shot in the neck and left to die in her own pool of blood, on her bed.
The incident occurred at Umuafi Ndume in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State on March 9, 2005.
The victim, Mrs Ijeoma Nwoha, a mother of five, whose husband died under mysterious circumstances three years ago following the same land dispute, had her head resting on an open page of the book of Psalm 68 and 69, before she died.
Her bedding, the Holy Bible and her foam were soaked with blood, which dripped from the deep hole made by the bullet wound on her neck.
She was probably reading her Bible, praying to her God or had finished doing any of these before death violently snatched her away. Her two eyes were popped open.
Men and women of Umuafi village where she hailed from saw the act as the testament of man's inhumanity to man, and subsequently descended on the house and shop of the suspected couple, Okite Nwokoro, a cripple, and his wife, Uche, and brought it down to its foundation.
Meanwhile, Mrs Uche Okite, who is the prime suspect in the matter, is being held by the police at the State CID, Umuahia. Also being held with her is another suspect called Jassman, said to be an Onitsha-based trader. He was accused of carrying out the execution.
Speaking to Daily Sun at Umuafi Ndume, the Vice President of Umuafi Women Association, Mrs Helen Nwaubani said that the murder was a rude shock to the women in particular and the community in general.
She said: "This is because Ijeoma saw death following her. She did not close her mouth. She alerted all the women who in turn, sounded the village gong to summon everybody to the village square. She told us that Uche, the wife of her husband's younger brother was planning to kill her because of a piece of land which was in dispute between them and which was scheduled for settlement on Saturday, March 12. She said that she had earlier complained to the leader of the association. She told us a story of how her tenants saw two strange men who came out from Uche's house to her house demanding to see her, but fortunately, she was away and the men went back to Uche's house.
"She also told us how one of her children had earlier that night seen two men in black attire lurking in their backyard and how the child raised alarm and the men ran away. She told us that we should please help her to beg Uche, that if it was because of the land in dispute that she was trying to kill her, that she should be patient till Saturday and if the land was decided in their (Okite and Uche's) favour, she would leave it for them but she should please not kill her so that she would be alive to train her children.
"That Uche had earlier threatened that if she did not leave the land which had claimed the lives of her husband, his other wife, and his elder sister, the land would also claim her own life.
"The women went in group to beg Uche to suspend any act she must have been trying to carry out. Then the village vigilance group was assigned to look after her house and the guards stayed around her house till 5 a.m. when they closed and went home. We were surprised to hear cries in the morning that Ijeoma had been shot by unknown killers who came in through her window, while she was praying that morning."
Jospeh Aloxie Dick, elder brother to the deceased told Daily Sun that it was one of the woman's children that discovered that their mother had been killed.
He said: "One of the children who knows that their mother usually woke up early to attend to the family's chores did not understand why she had not woken up. He went to the back of the house and as he was passing by his mummy's room, he saw her in a praying position. He was about to leave when something caught her attention. The louvres on the window were neatly removed and on getting closer, she saw blood stains on the neck of his mummy and raised alarm, which attracted people. They broke into the room and discovered that the woman was stone dead, though in a praying position with her Bible open to Psalm 68 and 69."
The people, who were already aware of the killing and Okite Nwokoro's family problem rushed to the house of Okite and discovered that members of his household, and Uche the prime suspect had fled to an unkown place with her children and her belongings.
An angry mob brought his house down to its foundation. The protesters also brought down his store and another building he was erecting. Okite was given the beating of his life and he allegedly confessed that Jassman was the one hired to kill Ijeoma.
When Daily Sun visited Umuafi, the atmosphere was still charged as youths, men and women were still chanting war songs and accusing Uche and her family of being responsible for the murder of Mrs Ijeoma Nwoha.
Okite, who spoke to Daily Sun while sitting near the rubble of his pulled-down shop, denied ever knowing the cause of the death of Ijeoma.
"I don't know anything about her death. My wife only called town planners to come and mark her house so that she could close the window she put in a particular position. I have been very sick since. I don't plan evil against people. As I am here now, if you push me, I will just die," Okite said.
The mob, however, told him that he admitted that it was one of his brothers called Jassman, who lives in Onitsha that shot Ijeoma when the whole community interrogated him earlier.
Meanwhile, detectives at the state CID, Umuagu Ibeku in Umuahia are continuing their investigation.