APC supporter murdered weeks after dumping PDP

An uneasy calm now pervades Eha Alumona, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State as a strong supporter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Chukwuemeka Ishienyi was shot dead on 19th February 2019 by unknown gunmen.

Ishienyi, 24, and the only son of his mother, a Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited the community learned, was a strong supporter of the PDP who joined 100 other youths to decamp to APC a month ago.

The deceased, Ishienyi was said to have been shot dead while returning from a meeting allegedly organized by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Eha Uno Ward in Nsukka.

Reacting, Enugu State Police Command, Public Relations Officer, DSP Ebere Amaraizu, told DAILYPOST that a “full-scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of one Chukwuemeka Ishienyi also known as Odarije”.

“Ishienyi, now deceased was said to have been lying helplessly on the road on 19/2/19 at Agbamere Eha Alumona and was later rushed to a nearby hospital by relatives where he was later confirmed dead.

“The deceased body is now deposited at Daughters of Divine Love Hospital mortuary for post-mortem examinations.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Eha Uno Ward of APC, Mr. Lawrence Alumona, told newsmen at the deceased compound that before his death, Ishienyi, and other youths came to him about a month ago and informed him about how he and his friends were disenchanted with PDP and wanted to join APC.

“He came to me one day and said that they did not like what PDP was doing and that they want to switch over to APC,” he said.

According to the ward chairman, ever since the late Ishienyi, several other PDP stewards decamped to the APC, they have been receiving death threats.

“They escaped the assassination that fateful day. Since then, I have not been sleeping in my community. I didn’t know that this could lead to death and now see what has happened,” Alumona lamented as he narrated what Ishienyi had told him.

Alumona said that one the day that he died, Ishienyi had told him that the PDP invited him to a meeting and he never returned from the meeting alive.

“The PDP invited him to know why he decamped and to persuade him to rejoin the party and when he was coming back, he was shot dead,” he alleged.

Another supporter of APC in the area, Mr Okwudili Ugwu, said that on the evening he was killed, the deceased was with him and they drank till 8 p.m. but only to hear in the morning on Wednesday that he was dead.

Ugwu said that the youth who took his dead body to the hospital was singing an ominous song that portends the danger of a possible breakdown of law and order.

He said that his body was deposited at a local hospital at Umuabor, called Daughters of Divine Love (DDL) Hospital.

His older sister who came down from Enugu, Ifeanyi, said she was shocked to hear that her younger brother was dead.

“At first, they told me that it was an accident but I later discovered that he was shot dead,” she said, noting that she never knew he was involved in active politics.

According to her, he was in Ghana at a time doing business and only came home recently.

A source close to the family disclosed that the deceased was supposed to travel outside Nigeria in March and that his Visa was ready for the travel before tragedy struck.

However, the PDP Ward Chairman for Eha Uno Ward, Austin Odo, said that he did not call Chukwuemeka for any meeting.

He claimed that there had been a series of support group meetings going on here and there and that he might have attended one of the meetings before his death.

“I am aware of the incident but I did not call for any meeting. There has been a series of meetings of party support groups.

“He may have attended one of them before the incident happened. He was one of our strong supporters before,” Odo told newsmen.

According to additional findings information on the matter, a PDP chieftain in the community, Eze Ikechukwu told journalists that two deaths resulted in intense panic in the village.

“Right now the village is deserted by youths over fear of being killed. I think the target is those who recently dumped PDP  for APC. This is because the two persons killed are among the group that left for APC”

“The killers are aggressively looking for others including Obar Joseph (provost), Ikenna Omeye (PRO), Okpo Ndubisi Cornelius (the ward secretary), Jonathan Okam (assistant treasurer)”, he stated.

He confirmed that a day after Ishienyi was shot, his Nephew, Ndubisi, escaped being killed on 20 February 2019 by unknown gunmen at his House but his Brother, Kingdom Chimobi Omeje was mistakenly shot dead.

The development comes on the back of the  Local Government Areas elections in Enugu state, Nigeria.