IPOB: How Police, DSS Couldn’t Protect Anti-EndSARS Lawyer from Killers who set him ablaze
EMERGENCY DIGEST- Activist lawyer, Barrister Kenechukwu Okeke, has been killed by hoodlums suspected to be members of the outlawed IPOB group in Nkpor, near Onitsha, Anambra State.
Mr. Okeke had been a staunch supporter of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, and was against the EndSARS protests that happened in October 2020.
To that effect, he had once dragged some celebrities, including Davido, Flavour, and others to court for leading EndSARS protests that led to wanton destruction of lives and properties across various cities in the country.
Okeke was said to have been macheted by his attackers numbering seven in his compound and a keg of fuel poured on him before he was lit up and left to burn to death.
Meanwhile, up to now, neither police nor DSS were able to make any arrest in connection to his murder as the perpetrators are believed to be untouchable members of IPOB in the society.
More worrisome, the activist lawyer was killed in the presence of his wife, Mrs Blessing Odinakachi Okeke and his little daughter.
Narrating how he was killed, Okeke’s wife who spoke to newsmen in Awka said: “Kenechukwu Okeke was killed by his tenant. The tenant, Chiadiobi was living in our house, but when he packed out without our knowledge and asked that to be given two months of his rent that he left, we told him he should have notified us that he was packing out.
“My husband was not around the day he came, but I told him he packed out of the house without our knowledge and should not be given back any money.
“He threatened to deal with us, saying he will teach my husband a lesson.
“I called my husband and told him what the boy said and that he should not come to confront him, since they say he is a bad boy.
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“My husband later reported the matter to the DSS and to the police, and he was made to write an undertaking, but he was still coming to terrorise us. Sometimes, he will come to our house and break open the gate and come in and pick whatever he wanted to pick.
“One day, he came to our house and my husband confronted him without knowing that he had many boys with him downstairs, and before my husband could do anything, they macheted him, and the fuel we wanted to pour into our gen, they poured it on him and lit him up and that was how my husband died.
“That day was Sunday and not everyone was around, and the few people around tried to quench the fire and also stop it from burning our house, and later we took him to hospital in Enugu, and that was how he died.”
Mrs Okeke lamented that since after his husband’s death in October, the family has been left alone with the burden of catering for his burial, just as no mention or quest by any organisation to take up his matter has been heard of.
She said what was more heart-rending was that her husband’s alleged killer, Chiadiobi, is still in the neighborhood, bragging about having dealt with Okeke, while also confronting her husband’s aged mum.
“He even recently confronted my husband’s mother, warning her that he heard that she is taking the matter up, and was warning her to be careful. The boy is still free, going around and without remorse, and we are just left alone to do the arrangements of the burial.
“Up till now, he has not been arrested, even though we took him to police and DSS, and he was made to write an undertaking that he will not disturb us again, but he has finally killed him.
“I do not even understanding the police on this matter. I’m confused. The boy is behaving like he is untouchable, and everyone is saying that he is a bad boy and we should be careful. We live in Nkpor, near Onitsha, Tarzan junction.”
