Posted by By CHUKS ONUOHA, Umuahia on
A heavily pregnant widow, Mrs. Ngozi Ariwa Zokari and her two-year-old son, David Uchenna, have decried the alleged murder of their bread winner, Ikechukwu Zokari, said to have been felled by robbers' bullets along Benin Asaba Road, while coming back from a business trip.
A heavily pregnant widow, Mrs. Ngozi Ariwa Zokari and her two-year-old son, David Uchenna, have decried the alleged murder of their bread winner, Ikechukwu Zokari, said to have been felled by robbers' bullets along Benin Asaba Road, while coming back from a business trip.
The widow and her son, who were still in shock while speaking to Daily Sun at their Orlu Street residence, Umuahia, petitioned the Abia State Commissioner of Police, alleging that the female client of her bread winner, was responsible for the death of her husband.
In a sorrow-laden voice, Mrs. Zokari unfolded facts and compelling circumstances sorrounded the matter which she alleged that one Ngozi was responsible for the death of her husband.
" Mrs. Ngozi and my husband were in the vehicle during the purported armed robbery attack, yet nothing happened to her. The vehicle they traveled in had no mark. There was no mark on the vehicle to show gun attack," Mrs. Zokari stated.
She explained that after her husband's death, Ngozi, proceeded to sell the pineapple which they had bought.
"After she came back, she refused to inform me and my husband's family that my husband was killed but hid herself in the house while sending members of her church and her husband to come and break the news to them.
"In view of the foregoing, I am appealing to you as a matter of urgency to look into the wicked and horrible act by the said Ngozi and her husband," the widow and her son appealed to the police commissioner.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the immediate younger sister of the deceased, Mrs. Nkechi Uwalaka, said that while his brother was killed on March 3, the family of Ngozi did not inform them of the death until March 6.
"I was in my house on March 6 when the husband of Ngozi came with some of my brother's church members. After pleasantries they broke the news that my brother was shot dead along Benin-Asaba road and that the woman who hired him was unconscious in a hospital.
I called my relations and invited them to come and hear what I had heard after which we agreed to go and bring his corpse for burial the following day, being March 7. We went with some park members and our first shock was that the pineapple which he was supposed to have loaded was not in the bus.
We came back with his corpse and accepted the story that it was robbers who killed him.
"Then the following day, we started hearing stories that it was the woman who killed him and that the woman who was said to be unconscious in a hospital in Asaba was in her house in Umuahia.
"On Saturday, March 10,2007, her husband came to tender a socks which he said was found in my brother's bus, containing the sum of N3500. By this time, we knew that the woman was already in Umuahia but pretended not to know. He still told us that she was in a hospital in Asaba.
"On March 11th, being Sunday, my uncles went to their house to ask if the woman had come back and they still said no, while she was sitting before them there.
"After discussion, it was agreed that she would come to tell my kinsmen how my brother was killed by robbers. She did not come. They were given another date, March 21. Before that day, she went to my brother's wife, who refused to see her. It was through this findings that we decided to petition the commissioner of police on March 14, if that would make them to clear the cloudy atmosphere. She was subsequently arrested with the husband on March 20th.
"She told us that it was when they were coming back that robbers attacked them and shot my brother on the leg and she fainted and only found herself in the hospital.
"Since the matter started, we have been having contradictory statements from the police. We have undertaken two trips to Asasa, asking the police which claimed to have rescued them from robbers to show us the scene of the shooting, but they have not.
'The police have also not told us who sold the pineapples which were loaded in the bus in which my brother was said to have been killed.
"If it was an armed robbery attack, why did they not take the money from them?
'We learnt that she was brought in by 3am and discharged few hours later at ST Rebecca's hospital Asaba. We wanted to find out who deposited our brother's corpse at the mortuary and there was no report to that effect.
"From the autopsy, it was discovered that my brother was shot on the leg and some metals were found inside his bone. Why then was he bleeding from the ears? The whole thing is so confusing. We have conducted our investigation to discover that the death of my brother is not unconnected with a family land dispute in which an uncle of mine threatened that he was going to kill my brother because he is the only one who has been giving them tough time in the family.
Speaking to Daily Sun, police spokesman, Godwin Chukwuji, denied knowledge of the matter but reffered the reporter to state Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The assistant commissioner of police said that they had reached a dead end on the matter.
According to him, all the loopholes in the matter have been looked into. "We put in more time in this case than any other and I had to step in myself to ensure that justice is done," he said.
"If there is any other area she would want us to look into, she should come forward and we are prepared to do that. The only thing we cannot do here is to pervert justice or to go against the law in order to please an individual.
"Maybe she believes that we have not done enough, but we have done our best in the eyes of God and man. We even sent a deputy superintendent when the family said they were not satisfied with the first investigation. The police is there for everybody not for one person alone."