Police Arrest Principal Suspect In Murder Of Enugu Community Leader In Benue State


The principal suspect in the alleged murder of late Chief Osita Okoye, the President General of the Amafor Community, Ugbawka, Nkanu East, has been arrested by the Enugu State Police Command.

The suspect, Samuel Nnamani, SaharaReporters gathered, was arrested on Friday at his hiding place in Markurdi, Benue State.

SaharaReporters reported on November 16, that hoodlums suspected to be hired assassins brutally murdered the President General of Amafor Community, Ugbawka, Nkanu East, Enugu State, Mr Osita Okoye.

The assailants, SaharaReporters gathered, killed two other persons, in the incident that occurred on October 6, 2024.

Sources had told SaharaReporters that the assassination of Okoye and the others was connected to the traditional stool in which the late president general was seen as an obstacle.

Meanwhile, Mr. Amaechi Okoye, elder brother of late Osita, in a petition to Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, sought for his intervention and to ensure that all the murders were arrested and brought to justice.

However, the prime suspect, Nnamani, who is the deputy president general of the community, who had invited late Okoye for a meeting where he was murdered, according to sources ran away and had been hiding in Benue State until Friday when luck ran out on him. 

He was apprehended by members of Igbo community in Benue State, who quickly handed him over to the Benue State Police Command, from where detectives from Enugu State Criminal Investigation Department SCID picked him up.

Meanwhile, a human rights organisation, Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), commended the efforts of the police for the arrest. However, it reiterated that it is in the interest of justice that the killers of the late Okoye, be brought to justice.

The organisation in a statement by its President Olu Omotayo in reaction to the arrest on Monday, described the arrest as a “positive development”, adding that they had earlier written on behalf of the Okoye Family to the Governor of Enugu State, demanding that justice must be done in respect of this case. 

“The principal suspect Samuel Nnamani, who had been running away from justice had ran to Markurdi, Benue State, where he was hibernating but unfortunately when detectives from the State CID, Enugu, tracked his phone to Benue, two weeks ago he had left, while his host in Benue was invited to Enugu. 

“Samuel Nnamani unaware that Police had visited Benue returned there last Friday the 22nd November 2024, and the members of Igbo community in Markurdi, who were not happy with the problem he brought upon his host, promptly arrested him and handed him over to the Police in Markurdi, from where detectives from Enugu State, later came and picked him up on 24th November 2024, and brought him to Enugu.

“We commend the State Government for his Zero tolerance to criminality. We also commend the State Police Command and the members of Igbo Community in Markurdi, who made the arrest of the suspect possible. 

“We urge the State government and the State Police Command not to relent until thorough and prompt investigation is made in respect of this matter and the killers of the Late Okoye, are made to face the full wrath of the law.”

The rights group, recalled that Nnamani, the Deputy to the Late President General Amafor Community, while in hiding in order to frustrate investigation into the murder case caused a petition to be written on his behalf by a Law Firm, to the Inspector General of Police through the office of AIG Force CID, Annex, making false allegations against some innocent members of the Community. 

The group maintained, “this case of murder should not be allowed to be swept under carpet, the state should ensure that Samuel Nnamani and his accomplices are made to face the full wrath of the law and ensure justice as the circumstance of this case demands.”

https://saharareporters.com/2024/11/25/nigerian-police-arrest-principal-suspect-murder-enugu-community-leader-benue-state#google_vignette