Gunmen have killed a father of four, Okere Samuel, and kidnapped a businessman named Sunny Onuenze at an estate in the Army Range area of Igbo-Etche, located in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Reports indicate that the kidnapped businessman, Onuenze, is involved in the scrap metal trade at the building materials market in Mile 3, Port Harcourt. Meanwhile, Samuel, who was a generator mechanic, was from the Ofeh community in Omuma Local Government Area of Rivers State.
According to the widow of the deceased, Mrs Peace Samuel, her husband on returning from work on Saturday, October 26 went out to pump water from the machine.
Speaking to Punch on Monday, October 28, she explained that at about 7 pm after pumping the water, her husband turned off the generator and told her he was going for a walk. He then asked one of the kids to arrange water for him in the bathroom to have a shower as he wouldn’t be long.
“So, not up to five minutes, I heard a gunshot. I asked, ‘What happened’? Not even on that our street, the next street. I heard another gunshot. I hurriedly carried my children inside the house and told them maybe their father was hiding wherever he was because of the gunshots and that he would come back,” she narrated.
“I started calling his line. At that initial time, the line was ringing but nobody answered. His phone rang more than six times. My thought was that he didn’t want to pick since he might be hiding so that nobody would hear him.”
“So later, I heard they kidnapped one of our neighbors. Everybody started coming out, all the landlords. I came out again but I didn’t see my husband.
“So, I started telling them I had not seen my husband. Being landlords, everybody said he would come back. So, the woman who kidnapped her husband was crying.
“I was waiting for him with the kids till past 12 am. One landlord now called me that I should enter inside and that my husband would come back in the morning. Not up to one hour after I went inside, I heard our neighbours’ dogs barking seriously.
“So, I thought he was coming back. Second, I said who knew whether this man was still alive? Or whether they wanted to bring his corpse to his house and run away. I peeped through the window to check if I could see my husband but I did not. So, I went back to the room.
“At about 5 am, I called my sister who is staying with me to wake up, I was not comfortable that my husband had not come back, let us go and look for your daddy.
“So we started looking for him near our house, looked around but we did not see him. There is this plot of land close to us, we entered there. It was inside the farm that we saw his corpse. That is how we saw the corpse.”
She said that the police from Igwuruta Division came to the scene.
“Our location is under Etche Police Division. I want to know those who shot him. Let the police help me with an investigation. His children are still young. I alone cater for four kids.”
The incident was later reported to the Umuebule Police Division in Igbo-Etche and the corpse of the deceased was removed and deposited in an undisclosed morgue.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the abductors of the businessman had established contact with the family but it is not clear if a ransom has been demanded.
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