It sounds so bizarre but that is the account of this woman who said she suspects that the killers of her late husband are members of their local church just because of leadership tussle. EGWUAGHA AMARACHUKWU reports.
Mrs Nkechinyere Ukwa is the wife of late Pharmacist Monday Ukwa, who was murdered a fortnight ago along Abakaliki/Enugu Expressway. This widow, who is a student of Law at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), said her world has been torn apart because as her husband’s death has put a vacuum in the family especially on her children whom she said cannot sleep in the night without their father. In particular, she said the last child who always sleeps on her father’s tummy has been asking about her father since the incident happened a few days ago.
She described her late husband, who was murdered at the age of 45yrs, as a jovial person who was always accessible by everyone.
Painfully, she said her husband left behind four young children and aged parents whom she finds it difficult to cater for especially as she has no source of income.
According to her, his death, if care is not taken, may put an end to her education and those of her children.
While speaking at their Abakaliki residence, Mrs
Ukwa alleged that one Frank, a member of their local assembly masterminded the killing of her husband for which she is calling on security agents to bring him and others to book.
The sordid details
While speaking with Blueprint, she said,, “On Sunday March 3, 2019 my husband and I were in the church with other church members waiting for the person that was supposed to hand over a leadership position to my husband to do so, but that person called Frank walked away and refused to hand over to my husband who was to be the next leader of a unit in the church.
“The church is Living Faith Chapel otherwise known as Winners Chapel, Umuoghara chapter. So, the pastor in charge of the church went to Frank and asked him why
he was not in the church to hand over to the next leader. He reluctantly came out after several pleadings by the pastor and reluctantly handed over to my husband.
“Frank was at the back seat where he normally sits with some members of his group. They were murmuring something of which everyone in the church observed. The election for the new leader of the church was done last year before our former pastor was transferred. Frank was the former leader of Hospitality Group in the church and the church elected my husband to be the new leader of that group to take over from him but he vowed not to relinquish power.
“Instead, he started projecting one Ogbonna Igboke as the new leader. The church, however, insisted that my husband must be the leader of the unit. In this group, a leader serves for only two tenures but Frank has served more than two tenures. He has always been fighting any pastor posted in the church. An ugly incident once occurred before the last pastor was transferred of which the said Frank nearly pulled down the church which would have killed the then pastor and his family.
“My husband even said he was not interested in the post because he is an elder and therefore, doesn’t have any time for it; however, that Sunday, they killed him. He told me he was not going to church and that day was a day Winners Chapel Worldwide performs handover ceremonies. My husband said he was not going to the church but I encouraged him to go and take up the leadership of that unit since the church wanted him. Unknown to him, Frank had ulterior motive. He, Ogonna Igboke and another Oliver all belong to the same clique. The painful thing is that Oliver who happened to come from our side could not protect the interest of my husband, his own brother.
“When we returned from church that day, there was one of our elders’ wives who has been ill, so had not been coming to church. After church service that day, the women executives went and visited the woman; the men group also agreed to visit her in the evening. On returning around 4: pm, my husband’s phone rang and it was his friend, Kingsley Nnabuko who called
and told him it was time for them to visit the woman.
“When he received the call, I was unhappy because we just returned from church and needed to have rest. He, however, went and that was the last time I saw him.
“I waited and waited in the evening but I didn’t see him. My neighbours told me he was actually coming back when he received a call and went back.” She said the call came from Frank few minutes to 10pm that day.
“I want the killers of my husband to be brought to book. I want the government to look into the matter and come to my aid because my husband’s murder has affected me a lot. His death has affected many lives; it is my husband that knows the kind of drugs my sick mother and father take. Nobody knows the drugs they take. He prescribes and buys the drugs for them.
“Will I talk about my children who don’t sleep in the night without him? My last baby sleeps on his tummy. For the past few days, I know how it has been not to talk of myself still in school. They just terminated my husband’s life. I am calling on government to ensure that justice prevails.
“I don’t know where to start because the vacuum he left cannot be filled by anybody. Is it my daughter who has just written her common entrance examination who is supposed to be admitted into secondary school
in September? I don’t know where to start and where to end,” she lamented.
Deceased brother also laments
On his part, the younger brother of the deceased, Emeka, who is also very devastated, said his aged mother and father depended on his late brother for survival. He described the deceased as a hardworking, caring young man sent to his early grave by some of his church members.
He said, “My brother is still a very young man to die like this; he still has a lot of years to stay on this earth and I don’t know that somebody can just terminate his life like this.
“I was sleeping in the midnight when my phone rang and the caller was from our village. He said a member of the state vigilante group, Neighborhood Watch, called him and said that they saw a corpse at a filling station with an ID card bearing Ukwa Monday.
“Before I could come there, his corpse has been taken away by the police. But the policemen that came and took his corpse came back to carry his car. I then followed them to the station.
“Why my brother’s death pains me most is that my father and mother are very old; and he is the one that takes care of them because he works in the hospital. The cards and other documents my parents use for their medical attention, I don’t know where to get them now because anytime my brother tells them to come to the hospital, they will go and he will use his hand and do everything regarding their drugs.
“I am even praying God to help me not to bury three corpses at the same time because I don’t think they can endure his death. They are completely devastated.”
