Posted by By Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt on
Angered by the murder of the former Special Adviser to Rivers State Governor on Health Matters, Dr. Uzorma Nwachukwu, the Oba of Ogbaland, Dr. Chukumela Obi, has called on security agencies to sit up and apprehend the assassins.
Angered by the murder of the former Special Adviser to Rivers State Governor on Health Matters, Dr. Uzorma Nwachukwu, the Oba of Ogbaland, Dr. Chukumela Obi, has called on security agencies to sit up and apprehend the assassins.
Obi, the paramount ruler of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, who cancelled all his palace engagements, since the July 30 murder of the governor's aide, by yet to be identified gunmen, described the incident as very unfortunate.
The royal father, who is a former Chairman of the state's Council of Traditional Rulers, was quoted in a two-page statement in Port Harcourt on Sunday, by his Media Assistant, Mr. Charles Amadike-Otoboh, as saying that the assassination of the aide was a great loss, not only to Orashi region, but the entire South-South zone.
Nwachukwu, a medical practitioner, who was appointed last year by the governor, having stayed in the United States of America for about 24 years, was on his way to Benin City, in company with his Personal Assistant, Mr. Evans Ezidi, to attend the Unity Rally of the South-South Peoples Assembly, when his car was halted.
The abduction took place along the East-West road, near the secretariat of Ogbakor Ikwerre, but the two men were taken to the road to Port Harcourt International Airport, which is under construction and shot dead. Their corpses were discovered three days later.
Nwachukwu, an ally of Odili, hailed from Okwuzi-Egbema in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA as the governor, and was said to be the first medical doctor from Egbema.
Meanwhile, fresh facts have emerged on why the former aide to Odili was murdered, with an impeccable source who preferred anonymity, informing our correspondent that it may have to do with the recent crisis in oil-rich Egbema, which led to the destruction of property worth millions of naira.
It was gathered that some members of the Chiefs-in-Council and other prominent persons in the area, were about signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Nigerian Agip Oil Company, but were not comfortable with the youth group, led by Mr. Afam Nwachukwu, a younger brother of Odili's aide.
Afam's two-year tenure will lapse in January 2006, but in a bid to overthrow the duly elected government, another youth group, led by Mr. Onyeama Ikwuleme, came up and started accusing Afam and others of marginalisation.
Trouble started when houses of prominent people in the community were either vandalised or razed outright, including that of Odili's friend (Nwachukwu), with his father's grave destroyed with dynamite.
The late Nwachukwu was reported to have blamed, at a recent peace meeting in Omoku, the council's headquarters, the youths who took the laws into their own hands and the few elders who sponsored the violence, which did not go done well with the aggrieved persons, allegedly leading to his assassination, to weaken his younger brother, since he wanted him to complete his tenure.
THE PUNCH, August 08, 2005