By Kenneth Onuoha
365Daily – Tragedy struck on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at Okposi, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State when a 29-year-old man, Mr Chukwudi Chukwu, was shot dead by a self acclaimed vigilante in the area.
365Daily gathered that the deceased was attending a wake-keep with his friend at Nediokpa village in Okposi Community when a gun wielding man identified as Hosanna Aju allegedly opened fire on him.
The deceased, who hailed from Amoji Nenwe in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, had finalised arrangements for his wedding scheduled to hold on the 1st of May 2021, before he met his untimely death.
*The late Chukwu
Mr Innocent Ezeogo, a friend to the deceased who accompanied him to the wake, told 365Daily that the gunman approached them shortly after arriving at the venue and insisted he wanted to fire a shot in their midst.
Ezeogo stated that they argued against the move and when they stood up to leave the venue, the gunman shot his friend dead.
The victim’s fiancée, Juliana Nnamani, said she was still in shock over the development as she did her best to stop her dead fiancé from attending the wake.
She called on the police to ensure diligent prosecution of the culprit who killed her husband-to-be.
A brother to the deceased, Mr Emeka Chukwu, lamented while speaking to our reporter that the incident was a pointer to the number of illegal arms in circulation in the country and called on the police to recover such arms to prevent further loss of innocent lives.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Loveth Odah, explained that the culprit has been arrested and investigations revealed that he was not a vigilante in Okposi and could not explain the source of a locally made double barrel gun which he used to commit the crime.
*The local gun recovered from Aju
Oda said plans had been concluded to arraign the suspect and called on community leaders in the state to report any person in possession of illegal firearms to the police.