Ukachukwu Holds Osumenyi Hostage As Assassins Kill Three
A certain Chief Ukachukwu from Osumeyi in Anambra state have been accused of holding the community hostage, just as elders of the community have sent an SOS message to the state governor Mr. Peter Obi to help protect lives and property in the community. Worst is the alleged invasion of the community by assasins who have been marking and eliminating their targets.
No fewer than three prominent members of the community have been shot dead by assassins, following a misunderstanding that is presently rocking the community, prompting some members of the community to consider relocating to other communities.
The genesis of the fracas it was gathered was the introduction of chieftaincy title into the community which has over the years been run not by a traditional ruler as the case is in other communities of the state but by a democratically elected President-General, this was resisted, therefore occasioning a tussle between the powers that be in the community.
However, the bumble fully burst in 2003 when the said Chief Ukachukwu attempted to register the community with the Corporate Affairs Commission, from where he received a certificate with the number 6638, while also obtaining an affidavit mandating every member of the community to belong to his church.
This was said not to have gone down well with members of the community who belong to various other denominations, thereby sparking off a row, throwing the community into the same trouble it has found itself today. But more fearful is the recent invasion of the community by assassins who have already gunned down three members of the opposition.
Leading a delegation of elders of the community to speak with journalists yesterday in Awka, the first Vice President General of the Osumenyi Development Union (ODU), Bro. Celestine Obi-Oguatu said that the community is today besieged with trouble, and its inhabitants are afraid who the assassins' bullet would fell next.
Obi-Aguatu narrated how the President-General of the community, CLC Akunedozi was last month assassinated by unknown gun men on his way from Owerri Airport to Osumenyi for a brief meeting. “It was on Friday June that he just finished a meeting in his compound and was about driving out when some men trailed his SUV in a Toyota Camry car and shot his car, causing it to summersault.
“The assassins came down from their car and shot him severally on the chest from a very close range, right in the presence of his mother, his gateman and five police officers.”
In a language that suggested that the brain behind the assassination could be traced, Obi-Oguatu said that two police officers who accompanied Akunedozi who sustained injuries were latter put in a bus marked “Ikuku Oma Solidarity” said to be belonging to the HDP, and driven away with the assassins on the same direction.
Though the elders of the community refused to mention any name specifically, it would be noted that Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, the HDP candidate in the last February 6, 2010 governorship election hails from Osumenyi. He is also known to own a church in the community.
Others who have been felled by the bullets of the assassins are Late Chief John Okonkwo, an elected trustee of the town union and a successful business man based in Kano. He was one of those who vehemently opposed the chieftaincy title conferment in Osumenyi in 2006. He was assassinated on 3rd September 2009. Late Prophet Ogamba was also assassinated in God's Temple, and his family given N200,000 to keep their mouth shut or risk being banished from the community.
A fourth, Mr. Felix Okeke, the chairman of the youth wing of ODU escaped death by the whiskers in his house when the AK47 wielding assassins visited him. Several other attempts were also said to have been made on individuals who are opposed to chieftaincy conferment in the community, Ukpakareports.com gathered.