The Abia State Police Command says that a retired Permanent Secretary, Sir Jonathan Agbai Kalu, died of High Blood Pressure (HBP), contrary to rumours that the deceased committed suicide.

The Police Public Relations officer, Mr Onyeke Udeviotu, said in a telephone interview that Kalu had health challenges bordering on HBP. According to him, Kalu who was the immediate past Chairman of the Abia State Physical Planning and Infrastructural Development Fund (PPIDF), had visited an hospital where he received attention and bought prescribed drugs before setting off for his country home in Ohafia to catch some rest last weekend.

On arrival, he was said to have instructed his guard at his country home that he did not want any kind of disturbance as he went into his bedroom and locked the door.

Udeviotu said the wife of the deceased placed several calls to his line to ascertain if his journey to Ohafia was successful but he was not picking the calls and she believed the man was still having his rest.

After repeated calls went unanswered, the wife rushed down to Ohafia to ascertain if all was well. She was said to have enquired of the guard about his master and he was said to have responded that “Oga said he did not want any disturbance.”

The wife went to the door to the bedroom and after there was no response to her several knocks, the door was forced open and what assaulted their eyes was the dead body of Kalu.

The PPRO said Kalu had laid down on the bed with the same cloth he wore when he left Umuahia.

Before the police confirmed his death, the news of the death of the former President-General of Ohafia Improvement Union filtered into Umuahia last Tuesday and spread like wild fire, with the rumour that he had committed suicide.

Those who peddled the suicide rumour said he left a suicide note, the content of which they did not disclose, but went further to allege that Kalu was a victim of conmen who had swindled him of his gratuity, estimated at N12 million, in the pretext of importing unnamed goods for him since 2012.

They equally alleged that late Kalu committed himself so much in his efforts to pull the business through to the extent that he mortgaged his residence at Ehinmiri, Umuahia. One source hinted that the ex-seminarian was dragged to Zone 9 of the Nigeria Police in Umuahia over a huge debt.

The deceased, who hailed from Amaekpu Ohafia, was held in high esteem as one of the most intelligent and favoured civil servants in Abia as he got several juicy appointments. He was hailed as a “Super Perm Sec”. No reaction has yet been received from his family.