By Editor
• Declare emergency in S’East, Igbokwe group urges FG • Death exposes plot to scuttle Nov 6 poll, says COSEYL • Senate, Obi, Agulu community mourn as IPOB exonerates ESN
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the gruesome killing of Dr. Chike Akunyili, the widower of the former Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Dora Akunyili.
This is as he assured other families, whose loved ones were also killed, that the killers would face both the judgment of man and that of God.
The President, in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, yesterday, shared the pain of the Akunyilis and their friends whose lives would never remain the same after the tragedy in Onitsha, Anambra State.
THE Igbo Conscience (TIC) in Lagos State has called on the Federal Government to consider a state of emergency in the South East, or at least in some states of the region, to prevent anarchy.
They stated this while addressing a press conference in Lagos, yesterday, over the murder of Dr. Akunyili.
The medical doctor, who had attended a lecture at the All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha, organised by the University of Nigeria Nsukka Alumni Association (UNNAA), Onitsha branch, in honour of his late wife, was murdered alongside his driver, police escort and five others on Tuesday evening.
BUT the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) has said the death has exposed the plot to make the people of Anambra boycott the November 6 governorship election.
The youths, in a statement, yesterday, in Enugu, bemoaned the rate of killings in the state, accusing the conspirators of trying to create an opportunity to appoint a sole administrator as governor in the state.
The statement signed by the President General, Goodluck Ibem, noted that Ndigbo were not known for killing, adding that it is worrisome what the region has turned into.
FORMER Anambra governor, Peter Obi, and the traditional ruler of Agulu, Igwe Innocent Obodoakor, have condemned the murder.
Obi, who spoke with newsmen at Agulu, yesterday, described the incident as a sad situation.
On his part, Obodoakor described the deceased as a peace-loving man who cannot hurt.
IN the same vein, the Senate, at plenary yesterday, honoured the late Akunyili.
Gunmen murdered the medical doctor at Afor Nkpor, Idemili North Local Council, on Tuesday.
Senator Uche Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra Central) had raised a point of order under Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rules – Personal Explanation.
Ekwunife noted that, on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, Dr. Akunyili, the Medical Director of St Luke Hospital, Enugu, was gunned down in a gruesome manner.
Before a minute silence in the Red Chamber in honour of Akunyili, Ekwunife called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and other security heads to investigate the security situation in the South East.
ALSO, Agulu community in Anaocha Local Council of Anambra was thrown into mourning yesterday over Akunyili’s death.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ikenga Tochukwu, could not confirm the incident. But Cyril Akunyili, the deceased’s brother confirmed it.
A witness disclosed that two escort vehicles overtook Dr. Akunyili’s car, while he followed them, before running into the hoodlums who mistook him for the big shot being escorted and shot him dead.
FOLLOWING insinuations that the medical doctor might have been killed by the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the Media and Publicity Secretary, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Emma Powerful, has absolved ESN of culpability in the murder.
He said: “We, the great family IPOB, dissociate ourselves from the senseless killing of innocent citizens in Anambra State. We have no hands in the political killings going on.”