April 12, 2019 was like no other day to Miss Margaret Stanley, 23, an auxiliary teacher in one of the private schools in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State. It was day her employer, in the spirit of the approaching Easter break, paid her salary before the end of the month. Acquaintances who saw her said it was, perhaps, one of her happiest days. But it turned out to be her last on earth.

On that fateful day, Margaret who hailed from Ezealayi, Alayi, in Bende Local Government of the state, and the first among six children, was in their house off Road 8, Federal Housing Estate, Ogbor Hill, Aba, when her phone rang asking her to come and collect her salary for the month. The call was from the proprietor of the school where she used to teach before her death.

Time was 11 am. An elated Margaret allegedly hurriedly dressed up and moments later, she was back in the house with the paltry amount that went for her salary. With the money in her hand, she decided to pick up few clothes for the Easter. Hence she set out for the market but she never returned alive.

How the lady was killed:

Narrating what happened to Saturday Sun, Margaret’s father, Mr. Stanley Okoronkwo, a carpenter, said he had gone to work in the morning of that day to change somebody’s leaking roof. On his way back around 1 pm, on getting to Road 8, he saw people gathered and curiosity drew him to the scene to see what the gathering was all about. On getting there, he was shocked to see his daughter lying helpless in the pool of her own blood.

“My daughter went to their school in the morning of that day to receive her salary,” he said. “After a while, she came back to the house and told us she wanted to go to the market to buy some clothes with the money she was paid. After changing the clothes she wore to the school with another one, she left our house and was walking along Road 8 inside the Federal Housing Estate, Ogbor Hill which is very close to where we are residing. On getting to the front of the Methodist Church located within the area, according to eyewitness, three young men operating in a tricycle accosted her.

“According to people who witnessed the incident, one of them came down and at gunpoint ordered her to enter into the tricycle. But she refused and asked why. The next thing everybody heard was a loud sound of the gun. The bullet hit her on the forehead and my daughter slumped on the ground. The people watching from afar, on hearing the gunshot, ran in different directions, for safety. According to them, after shooting her, they collected the money on her, her phone and her mother’s phone she wanted to recharge the battery in a relation’s house on Road 8.”

On getting to the scene and realising that the lady lying on the ground is his own daughter, Okoronkwo raised alarm. Not long after that, a friend of the family, one Emmanuel Nwanma, brought his car and rushed Margaret, first to Azuka Police Station to lodge a formal report and obtain police permit before taking her to hospital. But these efforts notwithstanding, she succumbed to the cold hands of death within an hour of being wheeled into the theatre where doctors battled in vain to remove the bullet said to be buried in her skull.

“We later deposited her corpse in the hospital’s morgue,” her devastated father said. “I had planned to take her corpse home for burial in our home town, but I didn’t have the money to hire an ambulance because I had been home for about six weeks before the incident happened, following the injury I sustained while working. As I speak, I don’t have the money for her burial. She was not sick to make us prepare for any outcome.”

Dad accuses police of demanding N.5m for autopsy:

As if the burden of having to look for money with which to carry his daughter’s corpse home for burial is not enough, police insistence on carrying out an autopsy on her body at his expense, is, right now, as you read this, giving him sleepless night.

“When she died, police said the body should be deposited in the mortuary and that they should be given the mortuary tag which we allowed them have,” Okoronkwo recounted. “The following day, I went back to the police station to allow me convey the corpse home since I don’t have money. They told me what I never expected: that there was no way we could take the corpse without autopsy being conducted and that I should pay N500,000 for that. I told them I had not eaten because I had no money, even if I had, that everybody knows she died as a result of gunshot. They insisted that autopsy must be carried out but I don’t have any money for that. With this, I am regretting reporting the matter to police; I could have taken my daughter straight to the village for burial. I thought they would be of help to me but now they are adding to my burden by requesting me to pay for the autopsy.”

He said his slain daughter got admission twice to study in two different universities, but due to his poor financial position, he was unable to send her to the university. Okoronkwo who is still trying to understand why the hoodlums came after his daughter, wants police authorities to release her corpse for burial.

Asked to guess the intention of the men of underworld who snuffed the life out of his daughter, he said:
“I’m confused over the motive behind her murder, whether it was an act of assassination, kidnap or armed robbery, I really cannot tell. If I were asked, I would say they came to assassinate her because if it were to be a case of kidnapping, they would have bundled her into the tricycle they came with and left.

If it were to be a case of armed robbery, I did not see the power she had over the three men to make them not to overcome her and collect whatever they wanted and go. To buttress my point, they never robbed any other person within the area. If they did not intend to kill her, they would not have shot her on the forehead.”

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/easter-tragedy/

Very sad and unfortunate. The NPF has been the bane of the common man in this country for as long as they have been in existence. However, the current acting IGP has in no mean way tried to restore a little faith in that most heartless institution. And I believe he will definitely do something to alleviate this poor man’s “police induced” ordeal if this story trends enough to get to him. So mods, kindly do the needful and push this to FP. Thanks

Sad

Buhari talk to your boys naw

Kai!!! NPF!! No conscience.....

RIP sister, in your next world you will live very long. May your soul fetch the people that is behind your death and make them useless

Brethren, let us analyze this case critically...

1. The teacher received a phone call to go get her salary. She did and got the said salary.

2. She was accosted by some men (3 to be specific). An order was given which she refused to carry out. The hoodlums wasted no time in sending her to the world beyond.

3. Only three men were involved and they came in a tricycle which doesn't run as fast as a car. Unfortunately, spectators scampered for safety instead of accosting those guys (which I'm sure they would have successfully caught considering the fact that they came in a tricycle and not a car).

How do we handle such a case? Let's see...

* Should the employer be questioned?
* Has she jilted a bae, who probably has sworn to take revenge?
* Are the guys potential ritualists?
* Could it be a random robbery incident?

Nyamirin doing what they know how to do best

Hunger bad!!! Rip young blood

Rip lady...what a sad story
Police adding salt to injury

Nigerian police will never change with their bad attitude.

Indirectly they have arrested the woman's corpse and the family must settle to get it back

When the righteous rule the nation rejoice, but when the wicked rule the nation mourn.

RIP.. This must be sent assassin

I hope nothing happened to the clothes

Her killers will know no rest until they come to nought. RIP woman and may God comfort the ones you left behind. I pray the govt relax some rules when it comes to those who can't afford autopsy. They can handle the autopsy for them. #na-talk-i-talk

Safety rule 1: Never argue with a man that is armed. Her refusal to obey them meant trouble. Afterall, its just money and phone they would have collected. How come a school still pays salaries by hand. I suspect the school has connection with the robbery. Its unfortunate and sad.

Too long, no time for reading bad news....

Painful.

Hope she no dey any cult group
It's a painful thing for parent to bury their child. Accept my sympathy

i know 2 devils, satan and Nigerian police both appear in black.

Amuocha:
Buhari talk to your boys naw

boys? ,

abi fellow animals

Saddening to say the least! God pls be with this poor family now and and always. Vengeance is yours alone, Lord, don't let her killers go unpunished!!

Thunder would fire the thunder that would fire those dumb officers...

Try and pay the money maybe they will help to investigate the case. But am smelling fowl play here, all the co-workers should be questioned

IPOB kill OSU..
R.i.p to her

The security apparatus in Nigeria is a joke