Death of John Ndubuka: My Story…Chinedum Orji (B.Eng) FUTO
Following last Saturday's 15thFebruary 2014 tragic death of my beloved
cousin, Mr. John Ndubuka, a section of the online media has been
appropriated by mischief makers to prosecute a mindless hatchet job of
casting aspersions on my humble self; with innuendos, jaundiced analysis
and outright blackmail.
One would not have bothered to join issues with these faceless cowards at
this period of emotional devastation, but it is pertinent at this juncture
to put facts in proper perspective so that the unsuspecting public would
not be hoodwinked.
On Friday 14thFebruary 2014, I came back from a trip outside the State and
while we are chatting at home, John informed me how the 9 clans in
Ikwuano/Umuahia headed by Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Chief Vin Ogbulafor,
Chief Ukasanya, Senator Adighije, Col. Akobundu, Hon. Udo Ibeji Dr Mrs
Uruakpa and host of others had prepared adequately to host Governor T.A
Orji at a Grand Civic Reception in Umuahia the following day being
Saturday 15thFebruary 2015.
On the D-day, John was visible at the event tying up loose ends. The event
was relayed live on AIT and monitored by different news agencies. At the
end of the Governor's speech at the reception, Late John helped me to
locate my vehicle from the surging crowd while the driver waited to allow
the Governor's convoy to move before us. John later reached me to
ascertain the next direction for proper coordination. He left me to join
one of the Hilux trucks. A few minutes later, I heard gunshots to which
the shells fell on my car. I shouted into the two-way radio to ascertain
who was firing those shots. My driver noticed that John was probably
pushed down and alerted me. We discovered that John was clinging to his
chest, his white shirt heavily blood-soaked.
I screamed when I saw the blood and instantly asked them to head to
Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia. On my way, I called the Chief Medical
Director, Dr. Aballi Chukwu and the Chief Medical Director of Abia State
Specialist & Diagnostic Centre- Prof. A. U. Mbanaso who also is the
Governor's personal physician. In fairness to the doctors, they did their
best in trying to stabilize him. They cut open his thorax to drain blood
from his lungs. Specialist surgeons were placed on alert in the theatre
for instant surgery. Shockingly, it was discovered that his pulse fell
from 70 downwards. At this point, I was joined by the Speaker of Abia
State House of Assembly and the Deputy Majority Leader, Rt. Hon. Ude Oko
Chukwu and Hon. P. C. Onyegbu respectively. Everything was done to save
his life, including sourcing blood to resuscitate him. These efforts
proved abortive, after one hour of tension-soaked efforts at the hospital.
The Chief Medical Director, Dr. Aballi Chukwu later informed me of his
death, and I was shaken to my bones to the extent that I needed support to
my car as to get back to my house.
After the fruitless efforts to save John's life, I then enquired of what
happened. An eyewitness told me that the trigger was accidentally pulled
as one of the policemen on duty at the venue held his gun with one hand
and was clearing the surging crowd with the other hand. All these happened
in broad daylight and witnessed by thousands of people, predominantly
youths who attended the occasion.
I am taking this time and pains to make this explanation because I am a
politically exposed person. In previous situations, I had been
embarrassed, being a character in many fabricated stories in the media. In
one of such situations, I was accused of challenging an Army captain in a
supermarket in Umuahia, who rushed to the Army Barracks at Ohafia to
mobilize soldiers who eventually mauled me to the point of death. A
journey to Ohafia and back would take not less than two hours. Curiously,
I waited for them to come back to brutalize me. Can you imagine that? I
ignored these fallacies because they were insignificant ploys to set me
back.
It is possible that due to my political exposure especially that of being
the Governor's son, that I have by omission or commission, made enemies of
my own or may have inherited those of my father. But this situation seems
to be orchestrated assiduously from one direction. For instance, scarcely
had the shooting incident happened, when an Igbere Facebook T.V page that
operates online screened a headline that I directed the execution of my
cousin. There are also strong speculations that I was the target but Mr.
John Ndubuka was killed. Another one was that those who wanted him out of
the way killed him.
Amid these flying stories, a false picture of the incident was posted on
the Internet. The picture supposedly John Ndubuka's, was wearing a pair of
jeans and canvass but everybody saw John at the occasion, dressed in the
attire of Ikwuano/Umuahia people that day which was white shirt on top,
black pair of trousers with a George Wrapper tied to his waist. The
blood-soaked dresses are still in the custody of the FMC Umuahia.
It is therefore curious that such a picture was instantly simulated and
placed on the Internet, a few minutes after the incident.
From the foregoing, a few questions readily come to mind:
1) How did the Igbere T.V, a Facebook page come to the conclusion that I
ordered the killing of John Ndubuka, and how come that nobody in the crowd
heard it?
2) If somebody actually wanted John dead, why would he engage a police
officer on duty in a public function to commit such a crime?
3) If I was the target as alleged, why didn't the assailant shoot me
directly?
It is very unfortunate that this happened. So tragic that John is dead!
Let me advise the mockers and those faceless, merciless and heartless
criminals that death is no respecter of persons and no living creature can
escape death. What happened to John could be anybody's lot but because of
the person involved, people have thrown caution to the wind, capitalizing
on a tragic incident to score cheap political points. The Holy Bible
posits that whatever you sow, you will reap.
Whatever they do, whatever they write on the social media, they cannot
dampen my spirit. They couldn't do it before.
John took it upon himself to assist the Governor of Abia State, Governor
T.A. Orji to achieve his vision for the youths and women of Abia State. As
people from the same hamlet, I have worked closely with him for over 8
years, moving from the informal to the formal. We are related. In truth,
this unfortunate death of my cousin will spur me more in that direction. I
am not violent. I will never be! My position as the Governor's son has
never gotten into my head. Neither has it interfered in my personal
relationship with people.
For any story to be the truth, it must have one version. In this case,
there are more than 20 versions to it. In the process of trying to level
all manner of things against me, they have inadvertently made mockery of
themselves. They should leave me to mourn my brother in peace. Nothing,
absolutely nothing, said on the social media, will dampen my spirit.
Let people be guided by their conscience, if they have any!