It sounds incredible but it really happened. 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.
Spokesman for the bereaved family,
Christopher David,40, who narrated how the
incident happened alleged 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.
Burial plans
“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.”
Why we were attacked
Recounting all that happened on the day of
the burial the elder brother 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.”
Vanguard.
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