By Jude Atupulazi
The Anambra State Police Command, Tuesday, announced the arrest of four suspects linked with the killing of the President General of Umuoji, Chief Silas Onyima, by men of the Command working with the Umuoji Vigilante. Chief Onyima was murdered in his home last weekend, with his body dumped in the bathtub of his home.
A press statement signed by DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Police Command, Awka, said that recovered from the suspects were: the handset and ATM card of the deceased. In their confession, the suspects named four other accomplices who are now being hunted for by the police.
The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, CP Aderemi Adeoye, who was away in Ibadan on official assignment for the opening ceremony of the 14th Biennial Police Games, rushed back home when the news of the murder broke, to coordinate police efforts at unravelling the crime.
The CP who commended the Police in Ogidi and Umuoji Vigilante for working together to apprehend the suspected perpetrators, has directed the State Criminal Investigation Department to deploy its Forensic Team to the scene of the crime and take over the investigations.
He has mandated the Homicide Team in the State CID to apprehend the four accomplices still on the run and unravel the motive behind the gruesome crime.
The Commissioner of Police also assured Presidents-General across the state that their safety was of primary concern to the police as they represented their people in governance by their town unions.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports have it that the mastermind of the killing of the Umuoji PG was his tenant who hails from Ebonyi State. The motive of the killing, it was gathered, was because the late Onyima had given the tenant a quit notice because of suspected involvement of the tenant in diabolic acts. The slain PG was also said to have told his wife about threats to his life by the accused.
The Tenant from Ebonyi State was arrested with the PG’s gun, phones and ATM card where he was withdrawing Money from the deceased account.
