What started in Alode community, Eleme LGA on the 29th of April, 2017, at the burial ceremony of an illustrious son of the land, Late Pastor Titus Owate Chujor, would lead to the death of many people as months of mindless killings trailed the industrial hub of Rivers State. At the center of it all is Princewill Osaroejiji, the Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who was declared wanted by the Rivers State Government a few days ago.
His actions, or so it seems, led to the demolition of a hotel linked to him by the state government on Sunday.
Osaroejiji, who the government accused of masterminding several criminal activities in the area is not new to controversies as he was accused of killing one Isaac Obe in 2017 and the subsequent of killing his sister, Mary, who was fighting to get justice for Isaac.
Osaroejii, who was at the time, Alode youth president and Comrade Isaac Obe, a past President of Eleme youth council had an altercation at the burial leading to Obe being shot to death.
There has been a plethora of bad blood between the duo over youth leadership tussle in the area. It was gathered that as the tussle deepened, the duo amassed violent cultists to build-up defense as Osaroejiji was occupying a post left by Isaac.
What followed was months of bloodletting that surprised authorities, its footprint still haunting the area up to date.
Isaac Obe’s sister, Mary, who was a lawyer accused Osaroejiji of being behind the murder of his brother and had vowed to bring him to book in a viral interview.
However, Osaroejiji in an interview with denied the accusations.
Mary had in the interview said: “If he is saying Isaac was shot by one of his boys, did he mention the name to you? Who did he say the boy was? Since he was an eyewitness that saw the boy, why didn’t he mention the name of the boy to you?
You people have heard from Osaronwa but I am telling you I saw him, not just other people. He was the one that shot my brother, he didn’t cover his face, he was the one that shot my brother in my presence so which one is he saying all this. If he is claiming all this, then he would have stayed with the police and assist them to arrest those people if he says it’s another person. Why is he running away from the police, why are they covering him up?
“Any how they do it, they will not escape justice. They have a lawyer who has a stock in trade, one Ufoh Romboh. In 2001, similar thing happened, they poured acid on some boys though nobody died, there was spontaneous reaction like this. Do you know what this lawyer did, this lawyer raised up issue of malicious damage and destruction and looked for a way of bringing down the acid victims, these people were not prosecuted. This lawyer is a pain to the community, he is just out to destroy the community and he will not succeed. They cannot weaken me with all they are doing, they can’t weaken me. I will fight and fight the killers of my brother to the end”.
But Mary did not live long enough to get justice for her brother as she was assassinated 9 months after.
Her brother Festus said his sister was shot dead at about 7:00pm in their Alode family compound after attending to the late brother’s case in court.
According to Festus, his sister was planning to travel to Abuja in preparation to bury the late Isaac but met her untimely death in the hands of some unidentified gunmen who allegedly monitored her movement till they got her outside the compound.
Festus said he heard some gun shots from where he was (not very far from the compound), and when he rushed to the house, he found Mary lying in her own pool of blood as she was shot at close range bursting her head and arms.
Another man suspected to be an Akwa-Ibom man was also shot to death in his car when he was trying to reverse his car to escape from the scene.
According to Festus, the assassins were suspected killers of the late Isaac who was a former Eleme council youth president and the late barrister had been fighting for justice against his killing before she became the next target.
