Emmanuel Alozie Njoku
The heartbreaking story has been told of the young final year student who was killed just three months to his graduation.
The Zone 9 Command of the Nigeria Police, Umuahia, Abia State, is
currently working round the clock to unravel the mystery surrounding the
brutal murder of Emmanuel Alozie Njoku, from Umuchokoeze, Amaisii
Uvuru, in Abo Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State.
The 26-year-old Alozie, who would have clocked 27 on December 9,
was a final-year student of Cooperative Economics at the Federal
Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State. He was also a student of the Institute
of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He was a hardworking student
who engaged in other extracurricular activities like commercial
motorcycle business as well as manual labour at building sites to
support his education.
The incident that ended his life’s dream and ambition happened on
May 19, 2018, three months to his graduation from school. In a
tear-soaked and emotion-laden account, his elder sister, Ada Njoku,
recounted that, on that fateful day, he returned from where he went to
collect money for a job he did for some people the previous day. She
said he returned to meet his elder brother’s wife and demanded food.
“The woman told him that food was ready but that she was
preparing to go out. So, he asked her to dish his food since she said
she was going out, while he had his rest before eating. According to my
brother’s wife, Alozie had a telephone conversation with somebody who
probably gave him some money to keep for him. The person wanted him to
bring the money to him at a particular place, but he told the person
that there was no fuel in his motorcycle. The person then told him not
to bother himself.
Sudden disappearance
Ada said: “My brother’s wife then left him to take her bath, as
she was preparing to leave the house for her husband’s shop. When she
returned from the bathroom, everywhere was open and Alozie was nowhere
to be found, but his motorcycle was parked outside. She said she called
him and he answered from the direction of our uncle’s house, where they
normally go to receive fresh air when the weather is too hot. She
thought he had gone there to relax as usual; so, she served his food and
left for her husband’s shop, with the belief that he would come back
after resting there to eat his food. She also left everywhere open with
the expectation that Alozie was around. That was around 3pm.”
The brother’s wife was shocked when she returned at about
7:30pm to discover that everywhere was still open. She got more confused
when she got inside to discover that the food she dished for Alozie
remained untouched, while the motorcycle was still parked where it was
when she was leaving the house that afternoon.
“After a while, Alozie’s phone rang; that was when they
realised that he did not go with his phone. She didn’t pick the call,
but when the phone kept ringing, her husband, who had returned home from
the day’s business at the time, picked the call and it was the person
that gave him money to keep for him. The man was even wondering why
Alozie had not picked his calls.
He said he was calling to know whether he could come to pick
the money. We told him that we even thought Alozie was in his house,” she said.
Search party launched
With the latest development, it became clear that there was danger:
“We started searching for him from that fateful Saturday. On Tuesday,
our last born was sent to school to know if he had gone back to school,
even though we knew he could not have gone back to school without his
motorcycle. He went to his school and came back without Alozie.”
Alozie’s body found
Three months into the search, the deceased’s decomposing body was found in a bush behind their uncle’s house.
Ada said: “On Monday, August 27, a woman in our compound went
to the bush at the back of our uncle’s house to hew fire wood and
discovered a decomposing human body. She raised the alarm and when
members of the community gathered, it was identified to be Alozie, my
brother. His body had already decomposed, leaving only the bones; he was
identified with the clothes he wore.
“After the discovery, my uncle went to the village chief
security officer and both of them met with the king. We don’t know the
outcome of their meeting, they only told my brother that they had
consulted with the chief security officer and the king; as well as with
the police. My uncle even took my brother to meet with the chief
security officer and they reminded my brother that he didn’t report to
the police when the incident happened. They told him that, since he
didn’t report when it happened, he can’t report now that the body had
been found. They told him the best thing was to bury Alozie. My brother
insisted that, going by the fact that Alozie was found at the backyard
of our uncle, some explanations were required. He suggested that the
villagers collectively find out what killed Alozie.
“Then, the next day, which was Tuesday, August 28, the village
chief security officer said he had consulted with the Divisional Police
Officer (DPO), in our area, who said, since our family did not want to
continue with the matter, we should bring N200,000 to close the case
completely. That was what he said the DPO told him. That same Tuesday,
one of my uncle’s sons came home and promised to provide the money, so
that the case would be closed. He later transferred N200,000 to his
younger brother’s account. My brother asked them if they would still go
ahead to find out the cause of Alozie’s death after the police had been
settled and the case closed.
“Eventually, they brought a paper and forced my brother to sign
it. He didn’t even know the content of the document, but at the end of
the day, it was found out that the content of the document was that my
family was no longer interested in pursuing the case. They put pressure
on my brother to sign it. They even threatened that he would die in the
cell if he failed to sign the document, since he had nobody to fight for
him. After he signed the document, they put it in an envelope that
contained the N200,000 and handed the envelope over to the chief
security officer. They did not allow my brother to go with them to the
police station where the money was allegedly handed over to the police.
So, my brother could not say if they went to the police station, and if
the money was actually given to the police, but they made him understand
that they were going to the police station to hand over the money to
the police so that the case would be closed once and for all.”
Pressure to bury the dead
Ada stated that, after the purported closure of the matter at the
police station, pressure was on their elder brother to bury Alozie and
that was when she was contacted.
She said: “I gave the instruction that he should not be buried
until I returned home. So, when I came back, I went to the king’s
palace, and met people from my maternal home, who were livid with anger.
The king told them that Alozie’s family said they didn’t want any case.
He prevailed on them to accept the decision of Alozie’s family and bury
him, so that peace would reign. At that point, I stood up and told the
king that considering the way my parents died, I would prefer if the
cause of Alozie’s death was found because we don’t know who would be the
next. The king asked me what I think would happen if, after police had
arrested people in the community, it turns out that none of them had a
hand in his death. I told him that there was nothing wrong in allowing
the police to investigate the matter, after which everybody who is
innocent would be set free. But, he insisted that I should comply with
the earlier decision of the people from my maternal home to bury my
brother and let peace reign.”
Community’s intervention
However, the community eventually decided to investigate the cause
of Alozie’s death. That communal decision, according to her, did not go
down well with her uncle, who complained that her brother had reported
him to the community.
According to Ada, “On September 4, my community said they would
intervene to find out the cause of my brother’s death. That same day, I
went to Zone 9 Police Command, Umuahia, Abia State, alongside my
brother, with a petition. When we returned, my brother was told that a
certain woman came to look for him. She dropped a message for my brother
that the king would like to see him. The next day, my brother went to
the king’s palace and he asked him why he involved the Amaisii community
in the matter after he had asked him to bury his brother. My brother
told him that it was Amaisii people who decided to investigate the cause
of my late brother’s death. He then asked my brother what he wanted and
he told him that he just wanted to know how his brother was killed. My
uncle got angry when he heard the decision of the community. He went
about telling people that my brother reported him to the Amaisii people.
“The people did the traditional investigation but did not come
up with any tangible result. They told us that they were told the person
who murdered my brother was somebody he had a quarrel with. So, the
community came back with the conclusion that the soothsayer could not
tell them who my brother’s killer was.”
Police involvement
Ada stated that, with her petition, the police swung into action, and investigation is ongoing: “The
day I took a petition to Zone 9, they asked me who I was suspecting. I
told them I don’t know who killed my brother but I was suspecting two
families because of their actions. They asked me the families and I told
them I was suspecting one man who earlier quarrelled with Alozie and
threatened to kill him.”
She stated that the police had made a couple of arrests and are
still digging to unravel the masterminds of Alozie’s brutal murder: “I learnt that one Chibuike who was invited by the police and later detained has been released since November 28.
I learnt that somebody gave his mother N300,000 to bail him and hire the services of a lawyer to prosecute the case.”
The puzzle
The question on people’s lips is: How come the body of a man who
went missing for three months was found behind the home of his uncle who
was part of the search? Others are wondering how a dead body found
decomposed did not ooze stench for three months to attract people. They
are raising the second question because a dead body would first get
bloated and then burst. And certainly, it would smell.
In the case of Alozie, nobody perceived any foul smell until his
decomposed body was found in the bush by a woman looking for firewood.
Family’s plea
“All we want is to know the person(s) behind the brutal murder
of our brother and for whoever that is involved in the wicked act to
face the full wrath of the law. Let the law take its full course. We are
calling the human rights community to rise up and ensure that justice
is served in this matter,” Ada said.
Reactions from the community
The chief security officer of the community denies ever saying that
the police asked for N200,000 to close the case. He also denied ever
collecting N200,000 to give to the police to close the case, describing
the allegation as false.
The police position
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 9,
Umuahia, Egwu Chukwu Janet, confirmed that the command was investigating
the case. She said the body of the deceased had decomposed when it was
discovered and that police used a sack to pack his remains.
She also confirmed that the police had made some arrest but, during
interrogation, the crime could not be linked to any of the suspects.
She added that since there was no strong evidence linking the arrested
persons to the murder, they could not be paraded because it would be
wrong to parade the wrong suspects.
Said Egwu: “The efforts the police have made so far is to write
to the network provider to give them the call record of the deceased
and other people who might have possibly called the deceased out to kill
him. This is because the information from the deceased’s sister is that
he went out to answer a call from some people and they didn’t see him
again, only to discover his corpse in a nearby bush.
“The story is not good at all but the police are trying as much
as they can to lay hands on the perpetrators of the crime, while
waiting for response from Abuja concerning the audio record of his
conversations.”
***
Source: Sun News
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