Many families were happy and thanking God for the end of 2014 and was anticipating for the better year coming '2015'. But that was not the case of the Ekee family who lost their breadwinner, Chief Emmanuel Dennis Ekee, JP on that fateful cross over night.
The suspected assassins moved on their target at his Okpojuku Street residence in Ughelli, Delta State as he waited for his wife to join him on his way to church for the cross-over service to 2015. According to a source, the suspected assassins pulled by the side of the Toyota Camry car, ordered his nephew behind the steering to step out while one of them made his way to the owner’s seat, where Ekee was seated and shot him.

The gunmen, according to the source, said they pulled their fatally wounded victim out of the car as they made their way out of the area. Ekee, who retired from the civil service as principal of Government College, Ughelli, few years ago, was making his way into politics when his life was cut short at 69 years.

When [url]Sunday Vanguard[/url] visited his Irri home town in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, the atmosphere was sombre as his kinsmen where still grappling with the news of his death.
One of the daughters of Ekee, Mrs Oromena Ekee-Unuata, narrated the sad story: “Around 10 pm, my dad, my mum and my cousin were to go for the cross-over service in their church, Bethesda Gospel Mission. My cousin drove out the car, my dad entered and they were waiting for my mum to get inside when three boys on motorcycle came.
“They blocked the car. One of them jumped down and was saying ‘come down, come down’ My cousin immediately came out of the car, he did not put off the engine when he came out. My daddy was at the back of the car. He was asking what the problem was.

“The next thing, one of them went inside the car and shot him very close to the chest. After shooting him, they moved the car a little further to the speed breaker just in front of our house and opened the door and pulled him out of the car and they zoomed off with the car. They left with their motorcycle also. I think they used the car as a fast means of leaving the area. They did not collect anything from my dad”.
On the brand of car, she said: “It is a Toyota Camry. It is one of my daddy’s smallest cars. It was in the night, so he decided to go in his simplest car”.

On whether the car has been recovered, she said: “We lodged a report that night at the police station, and some policemen came; we have not gone back to them and we have not heard anything from them’’.
On whether the family suspect foul play, she said: “Yes, because if they were robbers, they would have marched daddy to the house, because it was just at the front of the house and ask him to bring money and other valuables, but since they didn’t ask of anything and they just shot him that means there is a foul play”.
Mrs Ekee-Unuata, in tears, went on: “We cannot really pinpoint or talk about a particular suspect, because he did not tell us anything to that effect. My daddy was a very open person, at least I was very close to him. He even called me to say happy new year and I told him we had not entered the new year and he said we had already entered the new year. He did not tell us anything; so we do not where the problem came from”.
Ogbagah, journalist, also attacked
When asked if her father was into any kind of business, she said; “No, he was not into any kind of business, but he was a prominent man in Isoko, a leader that people ran to for advice.’’

“It has been a big shock, not only to the family, but also to everybody that hears about it. It is like an iroko tree has been cut down. Even the family meeting we had yesterday, January 3, 2015, ended in tears. Nobody that came here could said a word. It is a big blow to the family. He even told us that we would celebrate his 70th birthday this year’’.
On that same day, gunmen, numbering over nine, also swopped on a journalist and publisher of the Rainbow newspaper, Mr. Matthias Ogbagah, at his Ogodo Street residence.

The armed bandits, who found their way into the compound where Ogbagah resides at about 8pm, intercepted him (Ogbagah) as he made his way into the premises and shot him on his legs and ribs.
Thinking he was dead, the bandits took to their heels, while shooting sporadically into the air to scare people away.
Speaking to Sunday Vanguard on his hospital bed, the victim, who is also the Financial Secretary of the Ughelli Chapel, Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, said he walked into the gunmen in within his compound before he was shot.

He said: “Immediately I entered the compound, they accosted me and collected my phones and cash after which I was shot. They left me in my pool of blood thinking I was dead’’.
Contacted, Delta State Police Command Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Celestine Kalu, confirmed the killing of Ekee but could not speak on the attack on Ogbagah.
She, however, said the police were equal to the task of securing the state, saying detectives were on the trail of the suspected assassins.

SOURCE: [url]Sunday Vanguard[/url]

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