₦airaland Forum

Anambra community demands justice for gruesomely murdered ex-Principal, wife, daughter


•IGP Mohammed Adamu


By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The people of Umuehiam community in Abam, Azia, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Monday trooped out to protest the recent gruesome murder of their son, Mr Kenneth Ekwesianya, his wife and 32-year-old daughter.

The protesters took off from Umuehiam Community Hall, marching through the town centre to the Divisional Police Station. They then gathered at the Azia General Assembly (AGA) Secretariat where they were addressed by the Secretary General, Jude Onyebuagu.

The Secretary General described the incident as a source of worry to the entire community, even as he detailed some members of the vigilante to accompany the protesters to further demonstrate their seriousness towards the development

He added that the vigilante group of the community had been working with the security agencies to ensure the culprits were brought to book.

On his part, the Chairman of Umuehiam Community, Mr. Ebuka Chukwulobe, who was in company of members of the executive council, told journalists that the deceased did not embezzle any community money.

He described the note left behind by their assailants as diversionary and misleading.

“Ekwesianya was a school principal who served his fatherland meritoriously for 35 years.

“The wife too until her untimely death was a school teacher while their daughter just finished her NYSC programme and has started pursuing her post-graduate studies.

“They are well known in the community and have never at any time being fraudulent.

“This sacrilege committed against three of them in a swoop of madness must not go unpunished. We know that no amount of crying can bring them back to life but we demand justice for them,” he stated.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Azia hailed the protesters for their peaceful conduct, but warned them against taking law into their hands.

While saying that efforts are on-going to bring the perpetrators to justice, he stressed that the ugly incident was a concern to everyone in the community.

The protesters were blessed by the community’s ventenarian, Pa Boniface Onyejekwe, before they set out for the protest, urging them to embrace a peaceful protest.

“I have never seen such a sacrilegious killing on a church altar in my entire life. The perpetrators will not go unpunished,” he said.

https://newsexpressngr.com/news/117262?fbclid=IwAR2AkUH84rEJHeaAWbJyHsGTCcez1lXSCOYSClnsWzZhmwvBK0iYGSiC7MA

More photos from the protest.

Recall that three members of the Ekwesianya family were gruesomely murdered and three other church members inflicted with gunshot wounds in the church at Azia, Ihiala LGA of Anambra State on Wednesday February 3, 2021.
Members of the affected community staged a protest today against the incident, describing Elder Ekwesianya and his family as innocent people that did not deserve such calamity.
They also decried the level of insecurity in the state and called the government and security agencies to urgently fish out the perpetrators of this heinous crime and serve justice to the victims and their families.
Recall that the assassins were said to have dropped some notes alleging that the late Elder Ekwesianya withheld some money released by the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay families affected by the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).
However, the protesting community members, in a press conference, said that Elder Ekwesianya was never involved in the project and was not even a beneficiary, as the proposed electricity line did not pass through his house. The protesting community said that those who were affected by the NIPP were paid directly into their bank accounts, and that such malicious accusation was orchestrated by the perpetrators to divert attention and make it more difficult to get them arrested.
Some members of the community who benefited from the project were also in the protest, calling on the security agencies to ensure the assassins are apprehended and the reasons behind this barbaric act unravelled.
The protesters started at the community square and then moved to the secretariat of Ihiala Local Government Area where a press conference was held.
TellingTheTruth reporting from Azia.

Stop believing and spreading lies. I am a resident of this community in question. The deceased man was never involved in the NIPP project. All the people were paid by the government into their private accounts. Please do some research yourself and ask whether NIPP NIPP compensation in the entire southeast was ever given to a community man with no political position to start paying people. Government paid directly to people's accounts.
This is a distraction. I believe the police will do a good job. Let's wait and pray the assassins to be arrested so that this innocent man will receive justice.

bluefilm:
Inside a church in anambra again?

This people should have the fear of God na.

Well, I am not trying to justify these murders in any way because it is very bad whichever way you will want to look at it but why will you take community money and still find it in your heart to be attending church services?

Strange times we live in!!!

If anybody in the town was actually being owed the NIPP compensation, then it will be easy to identify them as principal suspects in this crime. But the truth is that nobody has ever complained in the town that their house was affected and they were never paid.
Every good person in our town is so shocked over the deaths in this innocent and very good family.
Elder Kenneth Ekwesianya was known all over the town to be upright, truthful and benevolent. The Ekwesianya family is a very big, well established family. One of Elder Ekwesianya's children is a medical doctor of outstanding repute. Everyone in the town knows this family as one of truth, righteousness and benevolence.
May the good deeds of this innocent man, wife and daughter continue to bring blessings to the loved ones they left behind.

The church in question is never a blood church. The man and his family are well known in town to be exceptional. The perpetrators and reasons behind this crime are yet to be identified. I believe the police will be able to unravel this.

christistruth01:
All these evil Blood Churches in Nigeria built with Blood Money and always provoking blood Sacrifice in a place that ought to be hallowed ground


Jesus Christ help Nigeria

No community money was eaten by anybody. All the people in the town whose houses were affected had personal bank accounts into which the Federal Government paid them compensation.

moneyissweet:
Didn't you read the message? Is it buhari that told old man to eat community money?


.

This man in question never held any community money. He was never a town union leader, a surveyor or a government contractor. How could he then have had access to the money that the Federal Government paid directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries. I believe the police should be able to arrest the assassins and get the reason behind this devilish atrocity. If God is still God, the enemies of this upright and righteous man will be revealed. We will await the results of police investigations.

Cutehector:
Owe no man anything and dont hoard what doesnt belong to you

Don't believe every crap you read on social media. The man DID NOT handle NIPP NIPP project in our town. This is a diversionary tactic. People in the town know the dead man or his family did not handle any NIPP money. The money was paid directly to people's accounts by the Federal Government.
Elder Ekwesianya was too upright for this campaign of calumny.
Nobody in my town believes this NIPP bullshit against this innocent and caring man.

naijadrivablog:
Greed never pays.

Dem pay you money for electricity project and you chop am?

We can't hear the dead man's side of the story.

What if the stated reason is a red herring to divert attention from the killers? Everybody kn the town does not believe the NIPP crap because the man in question did not handle the NIPP project. I believe the long arm of the law will eventually overtake these assassins.

LexngtonSteele:
WOW....

This is evil but i commend the killers for writing the reason they killed the deceased.

BUT they did it in the wrong place and killed innocent people.

PS - I don't condone murder, what I commend is them stating their motives. This eliminates an eternal mystery of the WHY.

The written note was not and could not have been true. I am from this town and know the family well. Nobody in the town believes this NIPP bullshit because Pastor Ekwesianya was NEVER a contractor of the Federal Government, nor a surveyor and the Federal Government paid people through their individual accounts.

greatness77:
if d written notice left by d gunmen is truth dat means greediness is not good, i know d gunmen might have warned him of d dangers but dare dem to do their worst, Rip to d innocent soul who knows nothing about dis

Do not believe any report you read. The old man did not handle any community money concerning NIPP. It was a Federal Government project that did not even pass through his house. The perpetrators of this evil act will, by God's grace, be arrested and the real reasons behind this crime revealed. I believe the Nigerian police have the capacity to bring them to book.

pegix:
This is brutal
A whole family down in a day
No.man can tell to ascertain the cause of dix bloody incident
But little evidence shows the old man has put his hands in corruption hence big Trouble!

But wait o, it high time we start dey classify dix gunmen o
Everyday gunmen gunmen.....nobody to be pinned down
Gunmen could be an ipobians, herdmen, or dem bandits
Make we knw gangan how we go take japa

The NIPP project was never handled by a private citizen like the assassinated man who was neither a surveyor no a government agent. The NIPP compensations were paid directly into people's personal bank accounts by the Federal Government. I trust God that the police will eventually arrest the perpetrators and the real reason behind the murder will be revealed.
Elder Ekwesianya and his family never handled any NIPP project. I am from the same town in question. He was well known and respected in the town as a very upright, principled and truthful pastor.

Miner13:
always in the church but holding back money meant to compensate many.

This report contains a lot of false information. I am from this town and know this family well.
First, the church where the incident occurred is not Seventh Day Adventist church. It is the Church of God (7th Day).
Secondly, Elder Kenneth Ekwesianya was a very upright man, well known in the town for his simplicity and spiritual life. He was not a politician either.
The so called NIPP project was NEVER handled by him. The NIPP project was done by the Federal Government and those whose farmlands and buildings were affected were PAID DIRECTLY INTO THEIR PERSONAL ACCOUNTS by the Federal Government. This occured several years ago. You can google more about it. The Federal Government never gave people's money to a private individual to pay them. I know a lot of families whose houses were affected and they were all paid directly by the Federal Government.
This so called NIPP project could just be a diversionary tactic to shift the attention away from the perpetrators of this dastardly evil crime.
I believe that the God he served will unmask these assassins and bring justice to this righteous family.