Widow to new IGP: Please, find my husband’s killers

• Bizman shot dead, buried with friend in shallow graves

For Mrs Christabel Nwaogbue, what could give her a sigh of relief is for the Rivers State Police Command arresting the killers of her husband, Chuwuma and getting justice. The Delta State-born businessman was murdered during this year's Easter over three plots of land.

Christabel is urging the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase to order the state command to arrest the killers. Chukwuma and his friend were shot and butchered before they were buried in shallow graves by their killers.

Christabel, who gave an insight on how Chukwuma was killed in Aruma Rumuekini town in Obio Akpor Local Government Area said: “My husband's sin was that he bought three plots of land in the place. The land was sold to him by one Samuel.

“He bought the plots of land about three weeks before his death. He told me that he had done investigation and Samuel told him that deal was okay and they were not in dispute.

“So, on Good Friday, my husband told me that he was taking a friend to the plots so that the friend could start farming there till he decides on what to do on the land.

“Anyway, I tried to convince him not to go to until after Easter, but the friend I don't even know his name, kept calling him on phone, so, he left in his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).

“Actually, I did not have a premonition that danger was lurking around, but my instinct was telling me that he should have waited till after Easter. Well, when I waited for him and he did not come back home, I was worried but I thought maybe he was too busy. Well, I later received a devastating phone call from a police officer who told me to come to the station.

“In fact, I was devastated when the police took me to the place where they executed my husband like a common criminal. I saw him and another lifeless body that I suspect may be that of his friend in the booth of his car.

“I needed no doctor to tell me that my husband was brutally butchered. I passed out on seeing his corpse. I later regained consciousness. I was briefed by a senior police officer that my husband was killed in company with his friend and that they were exhumed from shallow graves on the land.

“The police officer told me that it was Samuel who sold the land to my husband that called the police attention to the shallow graves. The question that I am asking is, why was it that the person who sold the land to my husband was the first person to know that my husband and another man were killed and buried in shallow graves? Let him tell the police who he suspected that was responsible for my husband's death since he assured my husband that the land was not in dispute. He should be questioned,” Mrs Nwaogbue said.

According to the widow, the man that was killed alongside her husband died without anybody tracing his background. “The family would have been looking for him. No one knows his identity.

“I want to appeal to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Zone 6, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin to use his good office to bring the killers of my husband to book. It is only when this is done that his soul would have rest. His spirit is still very angry,” she said.

Mother of the deceased, who is also a widow, Patience Nwaogbue, is also asking AIG Ogunsakin to fish out the killers of her son. “My son was killed like a common criminal. I was told that he was shot and butchered with sharp objects. What was his offence? Just because he bought three plots of land. I am sure that if the police investigate the matter, they will discover that many people would have fallen victims just like my son and his friend.

“I am sure that the land was used by the owner as a bait to deceive prospective buyers and thereafter do away with them,” she noted.

Efforts to reach the land speculator proved abortive as he refused to pick his calls.