A mother of four, Mrs Nnedimma Nwaiwu, was shot dead on Sunday morning in Owerre-Ifakala village, Autonomous Community in Mbaitoli Council Area of Imo State, allegedly in the presence of her children.

Before the murder of Nnedimma, Mr Chinedu Chibuka was murdered Saturday night, in Umuchinenwe Umuagwuoche in Ifakala.

Members of the community believe the murder of the two victims were assassinations ordered by a known criminal, identified as Izuchukwu.

Chinedu, 32, before his death, was a security personnel attached to a poultry farm in the area, while Nnedimma was a mother of four children.

Nnedimma, 29, was killed in the presence of her little children, who it was gathered, had pleaded with the gunmen to spare their mother, but all their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Local sources said the killers scaled the fence and forced their way into the woman’s home. A resident, Efuobi, said that the people of Ifakala were shocked by the spate of attacks, adding that the killings were reprisals.

Another member of the community, who simply identified himself as Okenwa, said: “We cannot say for certain the real cause of the attacks, but we suspect it could be connected to the arrest of a criminal gang leader, identified as Izuchukwu by the police.”

Okenwa narrated that Izuchukwu’s gang had attacked the community some two years ago, but was apprehended by the villagers. The irate villagers were said to have set three members of Izuchukwu’s gang on fire, while Izuchukwu escaped.

Okenwa: “But since this year, the gang returned and became a thorn in the flesh of the people of our village. The community quickly informed the police about the return of Izuchukwu and his new gang. Last two weeks, he was arrested by the police and since then, we started witnessing these horrible attacks that led to the killing of the young man and woman.”

As at the time of filing in this report, the police public relations officer in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, was yet to respond to messages sent to him his phone on the matter.

(New Telegraph)