Ikechukwu Udendu, editor of Anambra
News, a monthly newspaper based in Onitsha, Anambra state, was slain over the
weekend by gunmen believed to be hired assassins, it was learned today.
The deceased was returning from
Onitsha to his country home, Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area
Saturday night when the incident allegedly happened.
The state commissioner of police, Mr.
Ballah Nasarawa while confirming the tragic act, said he would personally
involve himself in investigating the matter with a view towards identifying the
killers and their paymaster.
The State Chairman of the NUJ ,
Comrade Henry Nwasike and his Secretary, Comrade Ifeoma Anumba could not be
reached at press time for reaction to the murder.
A family source said IK had left the
family house on Saturday morning to a commercial printing house in Onitsha to
check if his monthly paper was ready for distribution, but failed to return
home.
IK's elder brother, Chukwulozie
Udendu, also a journalist and publisher of the Anambra News, said the body of
his slain younger brother had been deposited at Iyi-Enu Hospital Mortuary,
Ogidi, for autopsy.
Chukwulozie said IK had no quarrel or
disagreement with anybody that could warrant his gruesome murder, but disclosed
that he received an anonymous phone call on Saturday night telling him to go
and pick up his brother's corpse in front of the Okay Okay restaurant at Afor
Nkpor where he found the lifeless body.
He said family members contacted the
vigilante group who assisted in contacting the police from Ogidi police station
who took the corpse to nearby Iyi-Enu Hospital Mortuary.
He disclosed that taking a glance at
the corpse, it appeared that the gunmen had shot him in one of his hands, which
penetrated his ribs and lungs. He added that a close examination of the
bullet-riddled part showed that he had been killed few hours ago at a place not
where his body was found but his body brought to Afor Nkpor and dumped.
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