His lifeless body showed that he must have been matcheted to death by his assailants. The Village Head of Umuagungolori, Chief Bekee Ukaogo, a retired principal and the deceased’s younger brother, Steve Ononogbu, both of who spoke to Daily Sun said that there were deep matchete cuts on his neck and throat regions.
According to them , the killers must have killed him in his parlor and carried his corpse and laid it on the foam in his bed room.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police, state C.I.D, ACP Micloth, who confirmed the murder said that investigation was still going on.
His killers locked the door and gate to make people believe that he was not at home. The intention would have been for his body to decompose before it was discovered, a source said. “There were signs of struggle between him and his assailants before they eventually overpowered and killed him.” Ukaogo, said that the deceased, came home on Friday, April 23, 2010 about 2pm and many saw him and exchanged pleasantries with him.
“I met him about 2.pm and we discussed and as our discussion was becoming too long, I excused myself and told him that we would talk more in the evening and left.
“I was staying with one of his half brothers when he arrived home(Onuabuchi Obi). He told me he was going to Ugwu Nkpa to look for some one who would help him plant yam seedlings and that he would come back for us to talk again in the evening. We did not see again in the evening and I felt that since he did not come as he said , he would have been too busy.
I did not know that he was still in the village. It was on Monday night that it was discovered that he was dead.
“He had arranged with one of his brothers , to travel to Port Harcourt on Saturday. When the boy came and saw that the gate and door were locked, he left , believing that he had travelled without him.
“By Monday, his wives and some staff started calling that they had not seen him in Port Harcourt. They asked that people should look for him. Those who came around there said they perceived some unpleasant odour and so suspected that something was wrong.
“Then I. K. scaled the fence, into the compound and peeped in through the window and saw his corpse on his bed. He raised alarm and people gathered. Then he went and reported the findings to his younger brother, Steve Ononogbu Obi, who now invited the police to the scene. The wives were then called and they came and an arrangement was made and the corpse was taken to the mortuary.
“They said he had deep matchet cuts on his neck. The floor of his parlour and bed room had traces of his blood.
“They must have killed and carried his corpse and laid it on the bed face down to make people believe that he had gone out. I believe they planned it that no one would discover his corpse until it had decomposed.
“There were deep matchete cuts on his throat and the back of his neck. Those cuts must have touched his spinal cord. The police took pictures of the parlour and bedroom.
“He was a very liberal person, some one who liked to keep to himself. He was my student at Williams Secondary School in the 1970s. We have never experienced this type of incident before. He did not come with his car and I believe the reason is to avoid this type of problem. “The community has been meeting over this matter because it is very bad. The women have organized prayers for God to bring out those who committed this atrocity. He was the only one living in his house. His nearest neigbour is not at home. Everybody is shocked.”
His younger brother said: “It was a shock and I rallied elders of the family, went to the police and notified them and they came the next day. The gate and door to his house were padlocked and that must have been the handiwork of his attackers.
“The door was opened and he was discovered to have been lying face down on his foam. His body was taken to the mortuary. There were blood stains. It is a trauma to me , very unbelievable, it is cruel, so painful.
“He was one of the illustrious sons of this village, a model to so many of us. He was an icon. The village has called a meeting in an effort to unravel the mystery behind his death. One cannot really explain it. He was about 53 years of age.”
