There is tension in Imo State presently following the
resurgence of kidnapping and ritual killings of several residents of the state.
The latest to be kidnapped is the former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in the state, Mr Alex Ogwazuo.
He was said to have been kidnapped while he was returning from a social function. Ogwazuo’s abduction came on the heels of the abduction and killing of a former local government chairman of Ideato South Local Government Area on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Livinus Alisigwe. Alisigwe was gruesomely murdered by his killers who beheaded him and amputated his legs and hands from his headless body before setting his residence ablaze. This was even as there were reports that the dead bodies of three siblings aged between two and five years, were found in a vehicle at Okwelle Onuimo Local Government Area of the state. The names of the deceased children were given as Saviour – 5; Salvation- 3 and Precious Nweke – 2. At Umuelele Irete in Owerri West Local Government Area, there was confusion as a lot of people wept openly, following the discovery of the bloated body of a 20-year-old footballer, Chidubem Ezeagu, in the bush last month. Within the same period, a 23-year- student of Imo State University, IMSU, Miss Kelechi Ibe, was shot dead by unknown assailants. Miss Ibe, an undergraduate of Banking and Finance, was killed while celebrating her birthday, just as a truck conductor in Onuimo Local Government Area, 20-year-old Ifeanyi Okafor, was shot dead by a police officer.
The latest to be kidnapped is the former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in the state, Mr Alex Ogwazuo.
He was said to have been kidnapped while he was returning from a social function. Ogwazuo’s abduction came on the heels of the abduction and killing of a former local government chairman of Ideato South Local Government Area on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Livinus Alisigwe. Alisigwe was gruesomely murdered by his killers who beheaded him and amputated his legs and hands from his headless body before setting his residence ablaze. This was even as there were reports that the dead bodies of three siblings aged between two and five years, were found in a vehicle at Okwelle Onuimo Local Government Area of the state. The names of the deceased children were given as Saviour – 5; Salvation- 3 and Precious Nweke – 2. At Umuelele Irete in Owerri West Local Government Area, there was confusion as a lot of people wept openly, following the discovery of the bloated body of a 20-year-old footballer, Chidubem Ezeagu, in the bush last month. Within the same period, a 23-year- student of Imo State University, IMSU, Miss Kelechi Ibe, was shot dead by unknown assailants. Miss Ibe, an undergraduate of Banking and Finance, was killed while celebrating her birthday, just as a truck conductor in Onuimo Local Government Area, 20-year-old Ifeanyi Okafor, was shot dead by a police officer.
Commenting on the renewed killings, some residents who
spoke with our correspondent in Owerri said that they now live under the fear
of the unknown as they are no longer sure of their safety, and called for
improved security situation in the state.
In his reaction, the state Police Public Relations
Officer, PPRO, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, said the police was doing all within
its powers to reduce crime and criminality in the state. On the death of the
three siblings, Enwerem said: “We received a report of three siblings who had
gone missing; unfortunately, the boys were found dead in a stationary vehicle
in the village by a search party.” Meanwhile, a suspected ritualist was caught
doing incantation after he was said to have urinated into a vehicle in a car
wash along Mann Street in Owerri.
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