Bandits have killed Innocent Obi, the Deputy Registrar of Federal Polytechnic, Uwana, Ebonyi State, in Imo State, sending shockwaves through the community.
Obi met his unfortunate demise in the Ezeala/Ezike autonomous community within the Umuezeala area of Ehime Mbano Local Government, allegedly at the hands of gunmen posing as Biafra agitators.
The late individual, affectionately known to residents as “Onye Army,” had previously served in the military before taking up a position at the Federal Polytechnic Uwana.
It is worth noting that he had also applied for the role of the next substantive registrar at the institution, a position he aspired to before his tragic and untimely passing.
According to the local community members, he had returned to his Umuoboama village to attend the funeral of a family member who had been a soldier and was tragically abducted and killed in the Northeast.
According to reports, shortly after Obi had returned to his family residence in the village following the funeral weekend, a group of more than six criminals entered his home at approximately 10 p.m.
These assailants were reportedly dressed in military and police attire, adding a level of deception to their intrusion.
As one source recounted: “They broke through the main door and started using machetes and axes on him. His cry for help attracted villagers to the scene, but the boys who were operating on three motorcycles, started shooting consistently into the air. The shooting forced everybody who had come out for his rescue back. And they abducted Dee Onye Army from that Friday night, leaving heavy blood stains in the house.”
“The villagers summoned a search party for him the following day on Saturday. It was late Sunday afternoon that we got information about a decomposing corpse lying between Ehime Mbano and Ahiazu Mbaise.”
“When our people visited the scene that Sunday, it was the dead body of our brother, Dee Onye Army, that we met. They gruesomely butchered him beyond recognition.”
“Dee Onye Army was a man who ensured that any youth who wanted to go to school got admission. So many youths were given admission to his school. He never lived like a rich man, always unassuming. It was now that he started building his house in the village, and that building was just within the decking stage before his death.”