A family went to the home of their
in-laws to accord their daughter a befitting burial only for them to
lose two other members of their family in the most brutal manner. The
ugly incident allegedly took place at Umueze-Anam in Anambra state in
January 23, 2016.
that youths in the area unleashed terror on them and ended up killing
two of his brothers, Obinna David,24, and Chuks David,17, in cold blood
during the burial of their only daughter, Gloria who was married to a
man from the area. Death of our daughter His story:
“Before her death, 31-year-old Gloria, was married to Fidelis Ofozor for
eight years without a child. She was a full time housewife. On the 21st
of December, 2015, our in-laws called us to say that Gloria was very
sick and that she was admitted in a hospital in Port Harcourt where they
still reside. Two days later, they called to inform us that she had
passed on. It was really a sad news for all of us, especially our mother
as she was the only daughter of the family and worst still, she didn’t
have a child of her own before her premature death. But, we put
everything in the hand of God who sees all things.
“Her husband’s family notified us after they fixed the date for her
burial for January 23rd, 2016 in their home town, Umueze-Anam in Anambra
state as custom demands because she was married traditionally. Without
an inkling that our in-laws had other plans in stock for us, family
members and friends from our home town in Ohuhun, Ubaha village in
Umuahia, Abia state and Port Harcourt where some of my brothers are
based, followed us to Umueze-Anam in Anambra state.”
of the deceased, Christian Okorie, who was physically present during
the attack told Crime Guard:
“During the course of the burial, our mother was in tears and while
weeping, she lamented by saying;”My daughter, oh you died a premature
death, whosoever that is involved in your death would not know peace.”
The statement angered our in-laws and they became enraged and started
shouting, asking why she uttered that statement. Immediately after the
prayers, our daughter was taken to the burial ground where she was
committed to mother earth while we returned to the burial venue.
Suddenly, some youths in their village wearing black T shirts began to
attack us with cutlasses, broken bottles and sticks. They used machetes
to cut us, they broke my ankle with sticks. Everyone that accompanied us
from the village to the town had to scamper for safety as we were all
under attack.
Along with some family members, we ran towards the commercial
motorcyclist park in the village so that we can escape, but the cyclists
chased us back and dragged us to the burial site.
How our brothers disappeared
“When we got there, I found out that they had beaten my brothers and
some of our relatives to a pulp. Some of them were already bleeding
heavily. Later, four hefty men came and dragged Chuks and Obinna out. We
kept pleading with one of our in-laws to intervene. He said we should
not disturb him; that there was nothing he could do. Before I knew what
was happening, another group of youths, five in number, started dragging
me to the riverside. They said they would drown me.
As they were dragging me, a woman who saw what was happening started
shouting, and saying “he is a camera man, what has he done? You people
should leave him.” As the woman was shouting, the people who were
dragging me did not bulge. Neither did the elderly men who were seated
at the burial site intervene. Instead, they kept shouting, take him to
the riverside. As they were dragging me towards the riverside, that same
woman kept shouting and crying, “you cannot kill this man.” All of a
sudden, two of them withdrew.
The other three kept dragging me down. The woman was still busy
following us. Later, the other two withdrew remaining one. That was when
I heard a voice which said they should bring that man here. When they
took me there, the man inside the compound said the blood gushing out
from my body was too much; they should take me to the clinic that I was
dying.
Rescue at last
“That was how he rescued me and I was rushed to the clinic. When I got
there, I saw one of my brothers who was also rescued. It was then I also
knew that the man that was shouting before was a policeman. He revealed
that they came to rescue us in the morning but regretted that they were
threatened not to come out no matter what happened, that they own the
land.
They had to seek more men from Otuocha because they were only two
policemen. The reinforcement came to the hospital later in the evening.
From there, they took us to a hospital in Awka. We were there in Otuocha
hospital from Saturday till Monday morning in the evening when they
came to attack us again in the hospital.
Police intervene
“At about 1am when policemen went back to the site to rescue my
brother’s wife, both my uncle, my mother and some other people that came
with us had sustained injuries. The Divisional Police Officer from Awka
led some policemen to the burial site where they met with the Community
Chairman, Youth Chairman, Council Chairman asking them to produce Chuks
and Obinna who at that time were missing. The villagers told them that
we killed their youths but when the police asked them to show their
bodies, they said they deposited them in the mortuary. He asked them how
can they take a corpse to the mortuary with out police report and
autopsy. The DPO asked us to go get adequate medical attention and come
back.
It was later we realized that Obinna and Chuks had been murdered by the
village youths led by the commercial motorcyclist chairman.
Extortion by the police
“Before they were murdered, 24-year-old Obinna David was a three
hundred level Business Administration student of Abia State university
while Chuks David, was a secondary school student. Up till date, the
police haven’t done any arrest. At Awka, the policemen collected N60,000
from us. When nothing was forth coming, we wrote a petition to Zone 9
in Umuahia. They demanded money from us to start investigation. Later,
they invited one of us, Fidelis Ofozor and his Uncle who were later
detained and released.
Our plea
“We are calling on well- meaning Nigerians, Human Rights activists and
the Inspector -General of Police, to intervene in the investigation and
bring the culprits to book. Imagine how they killed two people in cold
blood including our sister who died under mysterious circumstances
because they think they have influence and money and connection in
Abuja.”