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One 83 year old Wilfred Ogbu, a native of Umuidenyi Aji community in Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, has been murdered by his 24 year old son, Ejiofor.
Sun news gathered that his wife, Caroline, died in 2018, three years after the demise of their first child, leaving behind Ejiofor, the second son. The octogenarian also has four female children who are married and living with their spouses, as well as another male child, Chisom, whom he had in his first marriage.
Ejiofor was deviant due to alleged consumption of psychotropic substances, he relocated elsewhere for a few years, but returned home after being rehabilitated.
Apparently Ejiofor had returned home on a homicidal mission and waited for an auspicious moment to execute his plot.
On Wednesday, November 11, he struck in the most horrendous manner with precision; and to demonstrate his heartlessness, he chose a day of merriment, on the Family Day celebration usually held at Umuidenyi Town Hall. He waited for everyone within the vicinity to leave their homes for the cultural gathering before perpetrating the act in solitude.
With a sharpened machete, Ejiofor butchered his octogenarian father on the head and watched him die in agony, with a faint, shrill cry for help which never came. Having accomplished his mission, he dragged the body and dumped it in an abandoned pit toilet at a plantain farm within the precincts of their home, and buried it. To erase any trace of the bizarre act, he planted cocoyam atop and spread plantain leaves on the spot. Thereafter, he left to join members of his family for the Family Day celebration where he feasted to his satisfaction.
While Wilfred commenced his tortuous journey to eternity, his absence at the cultural activity on the ill-fated day aroused curiosity. Alarmed, one of his daughters contacted her brother, Chisom, who rushed home and mobilized for a search of their missing father. When he was asked about the deceased’s whereabouts, Ejiofor’s response portrayed him as a son from the pit of hell. Seated calmly, he said his dad had gone to visit an ophthalmologist as well as to purchase some drugs. For two days, he told the same tale until the bubble burst.
His brother, Chisom, narrated how the octogenarian’s decomposing body was found. “It was on the 11th November, 2020 that my sister came to my house and informed me that papa did not attend the Family Day celebration and he has not been seen since then. She told me she had asked Ejiofor who stays with him and he said papa went out to buy drugs. I rushed home immediately and met Ejiofor who repeated the same story that papa went to see the doctor, but has not returned. Ejiofor was so indifferent, but I never suspected anything.
“We started searching for him immediately and called the eye specialist who confirmed to us that our father never came to the clinic. We went to various places, but no one saw him. We then alerted the Neighbourhood Watch and after two days, my instinct led me to conduct a thorough search within the compound and the neighbourhood.
“It was in the course of my search that I stumbled on the abandoned pit toilet and discovered that fresh sand was used to fill up the space. There were also plantain leaves scattered there while fresh cocoyam was planted on top. I got worried about the discovery and I alerted my uncles and elders, all of whom rushed to our house immediately to behold the stunning discovery.
“We sensed that something was buried inside as flies swarmed the area which oozed an unpleasant smell. We now alerted members of the Neighbourhood Watch and the traditional ruler of the community. They advised that we involved the police before digging up anything”.
At about 10:00a.m on Friday, November 13, the deceased’s younger brother, Desmond Ogbu and his son, Chisom, reported the incident to the police, which dispatched a team of operatives led by Inspector Romeo Awodi to the scene. The spectacle was spine-chilling as the octogenarian’s body was exhumed, while his killer son, Efiofor, watched motionless with arms akimbo.
For the police, the circumstances of the crime was not puzzling as they promptly arrested him, while evacuating Wilfred’s corpse to the morgue of the General Hospital, Ogrute Enugu Ezike, where it was deposited for autopsy. In the meantime, Ejiofor is being held at the Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Enugu State police command.
In an interview with Sunday Sun, a distraught son of the deceased, Chisom, further spoke on the surreal crime allegedly committed by his step brother. “On arrival of the police, we summoned courage and dug up the place only to behold the corpse of our dad with deep machete cuts on the head. Ejiofor was still watching us unperturbed while we were doing this and even when loud cries rent the air after the corpse was discovered. The police picked him immediately, handcuffed him and took him away to the station while my father’s corpse was wrapped with a thick nylon and taken to the mortuary. Few hours later, the police came back and told us to open Ejiofor’s room so they could pick evidence. They told us he had owned up to killing our father and also disclosed to them where he kept the cutlass he used in committing the act”.
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