5 arrested over Guinea-based businessman’s murder after wife’s death

The Imo State Police Command has arrested five persons over the alleged murder of a man one month after his wife died in a car accident.

The incident, which occurred on Monday, October 11th, has plunged the neighborhood into profound sadness.

According to information gathered by our correspondent, the 47-year-old Apostle Wisdom Mbakwe, a native of Umuduruchukwu Aboh, Isu, in the Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State, was reported to be planning to bury his Liberian wife before he was brutally killed. On September 11, Kate died in a car accident en route to the market.

Speaking on the ugly development, the sister of the deceased, Mrs. Chinyere Ajonu, said her late brother had temporarily relocated from Conakry, Guinea, with his wife, before her untimely death on September 11.

She claims that Chidiebere told her that the event took place on Monday at about 6.15 am.

She further said, “Chidiebere had opened the door to sweep the compound. He first opened the back door to take the broom and packer, then left it slightly open while he went out through the front door to sweep the compound, oblivious of what was happening inside the house.

“Meanwhile, our brother was observing his morning according to the Jewish religion he professes.

“Just then, Chidiebere said he heard the shout of ‘Yawhew, Yawhew, and rushed into the house just in time to see the deceased struggling with some men.

“According to him, one of them tried to use a machete on his head, but he dodged, and it landed on his shoulders. He ran out to alert some neighbours and the youth of the area.

“When they came, they did not see my brother or the assailants. So they started combining the bush, thinking that if they were kidnappers, they wouldn’t have gone far.

“But they combed everywhere without seeing anyone. When they eventually returned to the house, they observed blood all over the sitting room and saw my brother where the killers had pushed his body in between some chairs and covered him up with curtains.”

But despite searching everywhere, they found nobody. When they eventually returned to the house, they noticed blood all over the sitting room and discovered my brother’s body between some chairs, covered with curtains by the murderers.

After further inquiry, it was discovered that the murderers had taken cover in an unfinished building nearby and had seemingly besieged the victims throughout the night.

They used the window of the lavatory in their father’s old home to enter the compound after noticing that the boy had opened the back door.

Regarding how the attackers were apprehended, she stated: “While the mob was congregating in our compound, a motorcyclist arrived and informed us that he had left three teenagers off in a nearby neighborhood and had suspected them based on their appearance and behavior.

“He described the three boys as being scruffy, with one boy being naked and the other without shoes. He claimed that the boys begged him to go more quickly while he was guiding them through the location of the event, and as a result, when he noticed the gathering, he assumed the boys had probably committed a crime there.”

All the young people gathered, he took them to the location where he had placed them, and they were quickly taken into custody.

She said that the family is at a loss because their brother was making arrangements for the burial of his wife.

“We are befuddled because his wife was killed in a motor accident on 11th September while she was going to Nkwo Nmiri market with our mother and he was killed on 11th October, a month after, also on the same market day.

“The killers took his phones and that of his wife and we don’t know how to contact his in-laws in Liberia.

She claimed that because their brother was arranging for his wife’s burial, the family is at a loss.

“We are perplexed since he died on the same market day in October as his wife did on September 11, when she was murdered in a car accident while traveling to Nkwo Nmiri market with our mother.

“His and his wife’s phones were taken by the murderers, and we have no idea how to get in touch with his in-laws in Liberia.

Because we believe there was a clear case of assassination, we want the police to conduct a comprehensive investigation, she continued.

When our correspondent went to see him, he saw friends and family gathered and talking about the issue.

Police have opened an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the event, according to CSP Mike Abattam, the Police public relations officer.