He was among a select group of Nigerian
professionals from the University town of Nsukka in Enugu State based in
far-away United States of America, clamoring for a better medical care for the
seemingly forgotten majority in our country Nigeria. They swore an oath of
allegiance and commitment in God’s Own country to alleviate the suffering of
their people back home.
Their credo and unalloyed commitment was to raise
money and come back home to take care of their massively impoverished populace
that were unable to get proper medical care in their oil -rich fatherland.
They therefore, formed what they called ‘’Nsukka Professionals
in US’’ and embarked upon fund raising for the construction of an ultra-modern
medical diagnostic centre in the University town. For years, they have been
tasking themselves and raising funds for the project.
Then in December this
year, the professionals decided to come back home and actualize their pet
project. They all trouped back home for a formal launch.
But tragedy struck in the early hours of Wednesday
preceding the D-day. One of their prominent members and an arrow head of the
project from inception, a reputable Financial Economist, Ogbo Bennard Edoga,
56, was slain by unknown gun men in his village, Aku, Igbo-Etiti Local
Government Area, LGA, just 30 kilometers from Nsukka township.
The victim had gone to the village to see both his
aged mother and twin sister whose husband was opening his new house. After
that, he, in company of his elder brother and two of his nephews aged 12 and 10
respectively, decided to visit some of his kinsmen. On approaching the
entrance to the man’s residence, he parked his car and alighted with his
briefcase after pleading with the other occupants of the car to give him few
minutes to felicitate with the owner of the house.
Eyewitness said as he was about entering through a
small gate, a car suddenly pulled up in front of his car. Two boys emerged from
the car leaving the third person inside. The two boys approached the occupants
of his car and asked where the driver was. Before the occupants could
answer them, they sighted the victim entering through the small gate and they
quickly pulled out their guns and fired some shots.
They reportedly rushed towards him and ordered him
to kneel down. As he was obeying their orders, they snatched the briefcase and
ransacked his pockets. While this was going on, the victim was passionately
pleading with them to spare his life stating that they should take whatever
they wanted.
Unfortunately, as they were leaving the scene with
the briefcase, one of them who was clutching an AK47 assault rifle retraced his
steps and released several shots into his hip angle. The bullet penetrated
through the waist and pierced his innards. Blood started flowing freely.
While the gun men were coming out from the compound,
they accosted a retired SSS official from the town who was driving in his
car and on overhearing the commotion, stopped to ascertain what was happening.
They confronted him and one of them reportedly ordered that he should be killed
but his colleague said they should leave him alone. They therefore, pushed
him out of his car and fled in it abandoning their operational car.
It was gathered that the bewildered villagers who
thronged the scene quickly rushed Ogbo to nearby Attah Memorial Hospital,
where unfortunately, he was declared Dead On Arrival, DOA. The incident threw
both the community and the entire University town of Nsukka into utter
confusion and shock.
Crime Guard learnt that youths from both the
community and Odenigbo area in Nsukka main town where the deceased grew up
started grouping to carry out a violent demonstration against the brutal
killing of one of their foremost sons whom they described as a “messiah and
philanthropist” that was working hard to alleviate their sufferings. It was the
timely intervention of a one- time Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area and
former member of the House of Representatives, Alex Ezeh and other elders that
stopped what could have been a bloody protest by the aggrieved youths.
Meanwhile, it was reliably gathered that few minutes
after the incident, the Police Area Commander in Nsukka, Ros-Amson Halladu and
his military counterpart, Lt. Shuabu, in-charge of Nsukka Urban patrol quickly
swung into action and blocked all entrance and exits to both the community and
other neighboring towns.
Police sources said they quickly mobilized their men
and commenced frantic search and patrol of the areas. Their efforts paid off as
they were able to recover the vehicle used by the fleeing gun men at 9th mile
near Enugu . Following this development, they mounted heavy surveillance and
house-to-house search in and around the area and beyond.
When Crime Guard visited the family house of the
victim, the two teenagers who witnessed the ugly incident were said to still be
in shock. One of them, a 12-year-old, was overheard lamenting pathetically that
he and his sibling have finally lost the opportunity of getting educated
because the victim promised to educate them to all levels after the recent
death of their father.
Few minutes later, a group of teenagers numbering
about 10 came into the compound crying uncontrollably. They told Crime Guard
that the victim gave them scholarship and had returned to renew his financial
commitment before he was brutally murdered.
Following this development, it was also gathered
that other returnees from overseas and even those from different parts of
the country who came for both the yuletide and the launching of the project had
to flee for their lives. Some of them that were already landed in Lagos from
abroad were reportedly said to have hastily flown back to their bases for fear
of being killed.
As at the time of going to press, it was not
possible to ascertain the motive for the gruesome murder but police sources
hinted that all hands were on deck and they were not leaving any stone
unturned in their desperate quest to unravel the mystery surrounding the death
of the US returnee. According to one of the sources, “we will also spread our
dragnets abroad with a view to finding out the motive and if it has to do with
the project.”
source: vanguard
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