He was among a select group of Nigerian
professionals from the University town of
Nsukka in Enugu State based in far-away
United States of America, clamoring for a better
medical care for the seemingly forgotten
majority in our country Nigeria. They swore an oath of allegiance and commitment in God’s
Own country to alleviate the suffering of their
people back home. Their credo and unalloyed commitment was to
raise money and come back home to take care
of their massively impoverished populace that
were unable to get proper medical care in their
oil -rich fatherland. They therefore, formed what they called
‘’Nsukka Professionals in US’’ and embarked
upon fund raising for the construction of an
ultra-modern medical diagnostic centre in the
University town. For years, they have been
tasking themselves and raising funds for the project. Then in December this year, the
professionals decided to come back home and
actualize their pet project. They all trouped
back home for a formal launch slated for today. But tragedy struck in the early hours of
Wednesday preceding the D-day. One of their
prominent members and an arrow head of the
project from inception, a reputable Financial
Economist, Ogbo Bennard Edoga, 56, was slain
by unknown gun men in his village, Aku, Igbo- Etiti Local Government Area, LGA, just 30
kilometers from Nsukka township. The victim had gone to the village to see both
his aged mother and twin sister whose
husband was opening his new house. After
that, he, in company of his elder brother and
two of his nephews aged 12 and 10
respectively, decided to visit some of his kinsmen. On approaching the entrance to the
man’s residence, he parked his car and alighted
with his briefcase after pleading with the other
occupants of the car to give him few minutes to
felicitate with the owner of the house. The deceased, Ogbo Bennard Edoga Eyewitness said as he was about entering
through a small gate, a car suddenly pulled up
in front of his car. Two boys emerged from the
car leaving the third person inside. The two
boys approached the occupants of his car and
asked where the driver was. Before the occupants could answer them, they sighted the
victim entering through the small gate and they
quickly pulled out their guns and fired some
shots. They reportedly rushed towards him and
ordered him to kneel down. As he was obeying
their orders, they snatched the briefcase and
ransacked his pockets. While this was going
on, the victim was passionately pleading with
them to spare his life stating that they should take whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, as they were leaving the scene
with the briefcase, one of them who was
clutching an AK47 assault rifle retraced his
steps and released several shots into his hip
angle. The bullet penetrated through the waist
and pierced his innards. Blood started flowing freely. While the gun men were coming out from the
compound, they accosted a retired SSS official
from the town who was driving in his car and
on overhearing the commotion, stopped to
ascertain what was happening. They
confronted him and one of them reportedly ordered that he should be killed but his
colleague said they should leave him alone.
They therefore, pushed him out of his car and
fled in it abandoning their operational car. It was gathered that the bewildered villagers
who thronged the scene quickly rushed Ogbo
to nearby Attah Memorial Hospital, where
unfortunately, he was declared Dead On Arrival,
DOA. The incident threw both the community
and the entire University town of Nsukka into utter confusion and shock. Crime Guard learnt that youths from both the
community and Odenigbo area in Nsukka main
town where the deceased grew up started
grouping to carry out a violent demonstration
against the brutal killing of one of their
foremost sons whom they described as a “messiah and philanthropist” that was working
hard to alleviate their sufferings. It was the
timely intervention of a one- time Chairman of
Nsukka Local Government Area and former
member of the House of Representatives, Alex
Ezeh and other elders that stopped what could have been a bloody protest by the aggrieved
youths. Meanwhile, it was reliably gathered that few
minutes after the incident, the Police Area
Commander in Nsukka, Ros-Amson Halladu
and his military counterpart, Lt. Shuabu, in-
charge of Nsukka Urban patrol quickly swung
into action and blocked all entrance and exits to both the community and other neighboring
towns. Police sources said they quickly mobilized their
men and commenced frantic search and patrol
of the areas. Their efforts paid off as they were
able to recover the vehicle used by the fleeing
gun men at 9th mile near Enugu . Following this
development, they mounted heavy surveillance and house-to-house search in and around the
area and beyond. When Crime Guard visited the family house of
the victim, the two teenagers who witnessed
the ugly incident were said to still be in shock.
One of them, a 12-year-old, was overheard
lamenting pathetically that he and his sibling
have finally lost the opportunity of getting educated because the victim promised to
educate them to all levels after the recent death
o
f their father. Few minutes later, a group of teenagers
numbering about 10 came into the compound
crying uncontrollably. They told Crime Guard
that the victim gave them scholarship and had
returned to renew his financial commitment
before he was brutally murdered. Following this development, it was also
gathered that other returnees from overseas
and even those from different parts of the
country who came for both the yuletide and
the launching of the project had to flee for their
lives. Some of them that were already landed in Lagos from abroad were reportedly said to
have hastily flown back to their bases for fear
of being killed. As at the time of going to press, it was not
possible to ascertain the motive for the
gruesome murder but police sources hinted
that all hands were on deck and they were not
leaving any stone unturned in their desperate
quest to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the US returnee. According to one of
the sources, “we will also spread our dragnets
abroad with a view to finding out the motive
and if it has to do with the project.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/xmas-shocker-how-us-based-nigerian-economist-was-killed-in-enugu/