By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
As the killing of an Umuebulu opinion leader, Godwin Njoku, continue to generate mixed reactions from all around Rivers State, elders of Umuebulu have accused Okrika people residing in Okrika Plantation in Umuebulu Community, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, of perpetrating the act.
The allegation by Umuebulu elders corroborates that of the wife of the late Godwin Njoku who was said to have earlier accused the same Okrika people in Umuebulu of killing her husband.
According to sources, the elders of Umuebulu, including their paramount ruler, have, in a recent statement, claimed that the assassination of Godwin Njoku was masterminded by the Okrika people living in the Okrika Plantation.
They claimed that since the demolition carried out in the Plantain Plantation in compliance to a court order, some people there, led by the Amanyanabo of the area, one Abiye, have been threatening to unleash mayhem in Umuebulu and deal with those behind the demolition.
The elders of Umuebulu, in the statement allegedly signed by their paramount ruler/ochimba, Eze James Nwagwu, were said to have called on the police and other security agencies to investigate the matter properly and bring to justice all those behind the brutal killing of Godwin Njoku.
TPCN gathered that the wife of Godwin Njoku has revealed that the killers of her husband taunted her husband for allegedly masterminding the demolition of the Okrika Plantation, asking him if he taught he would do such a thing and go free.
The widow, it was further gathered, was said to have told some of her confidants that the killers of her husband were conversing in Okrika language that night.
She was also said to have revealed that they wanted to kill her before their leader stopped them, arguing that since they had got the person they came for (being Godwin Njoku), there was no point killing the wife.
Investigation revealed that there has been a long battle between the Umuebulu Community and the Okrika Community over the real ownership of the plantation, irrespective of the fact that the Okrikans have allegedly been living there for many years.
However, a court judgment in favour of Umuebulu enabled them to quit the Okrikans residing in the plantation by force, demolishing their structures in the process, and setting up a feud between the two parties.
But whether that matter was what led to the current crisis in Umuebulu is what the public is desperate to know.
The Rivers State police command is understood to be on top of the matter with a view to unravelling the mystery behind it.
