Wife of slain staff of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (FETHA) Ebonyi State, Nkechinyere Ukwa, has accused some of her church members of masterminding the death of her late husband, Mr Monday Ukwa.
Speaking at their Abakaliki residence recently, wife of the deceased, who described her husband as a jovial and easy going person, alleged that one of the members of the church, simply identified as Frank, with his cohorts, masterminded his killings.
Calling on security agents to bring the perpetrators to book, Nkechinyere said her husband’s death had left a vacuum, which was impossible to fill.
The widow, who is a Law student of the National Open University, explaining that her dead hubby was the one seeing her through school, lamented that the tragedy might bring her dream of being a university graduate to an abrupt end.
According to her, the closeness between the deceased and the children was so strong that they could hardly sleep without their father.
The widow alleged that Frank had displayed obvious disdain and contempt against her husband over a particular position in the church.
She said, “On the 3rd day of March, 2019, being Sunday, during church service, my husband and I were in the church with other church members waiting for Frank who was supposed to confer a leadership position on my husband but he (Frank) walked away and refused to hand over to my husband as directed by the church.
“When the Pastor-in-Charge of the church noticed Frank’s action, he queried his behaviour. After persuasions by the Pastor, he reluctantly came out and handed over to my husband.
“After that, Mr. Frank went to the back seat where he usually sits with some of his group and were murmuring to the hearing of everyone in the church, showing grave bitterness. The election for new leaders of the church was done last year when our former Pastor was there before he was transferred.
“Frank was the former leader of Hospitality Group in the church and the church elected my husband to be the new leader of that group to take over from him, but he had vowed not to relinquish power. Rather than hand over to my husband, Frank started projecting one Ogbonna Igboke to assume leadership of the group.
“However, the church insisted that my husband must be the leader of that arm because, according to members, if the leadership was given to Igboke, his stooge, Frank, would still be in control. In the Hospitality Unit, any leader stays only for a tenure of two years, but Frank had served more than two tenures.
“He has always been fighting any Pastor posted to the church. An ugly incident occurred before the last Pastor was transferred, of which Frank nearly pulled down the church, which would have killed the then Pastor and his family.
“My late husband even said he was not interested in the post because he was already busy as an Elder in the Board of Deacons’ Assembly.
“That Sunday they killed my husband, he had told me in the morning that he was not going to church and that day was the day Winners Chapel was doing handing over worldwide.
“In fact, I was the one who encouraged him to go and take up the leadership posiion of that unit since the church wants him, not knowing that Frank has ulterior motive against him.
“Frank, Ogonna Igboke and one Oliver belong to same clique, but the one that pains me most is Oliver who happens to come from our village and could not protect the interest of my husband, his brother.
“When we came back from Church that day, there was one of our elder’s wife who had been very sick for long and had not been coming to church. She happens to be the President of the Women group while I am the Secretary. On that fateful day, after church service, the women executives, visited the woman. After praying for her, our male counterparts agreed to also visit the woman in the evening.
“That day, my husband just came back and around 4pm, his phone rang and it was his friend, Engr. Kingsley Nnabuko, who called to inform him that it was time for them to visit the woman.
“My husband had not even entered into the house when the phone rang as he was still outside playing with the children. I was not willing to let him go out again, but realising where they were going, I allowed him. He went and I never knew it was going to be the last time I would see or hear from him.
“That night, he was returning and had almost reached the house as we waited for him after their visitation to the sick member. In fact, he had actually gotten to a block industry close to our residence when he received another call and reversed his car. That call came from Frank and it was around 10pm that very night.
“I want the killers of my husband to be brought to book. I want the government to look into the matter and come to my aid because my husband’s death has affected me a lot.
“His death has, in fact, affected many lives. He was the one who knew the drugs my sick mother and father took and he prescribed and bought the drugs regularly for them.
How will I help my children who don’t sleep in the night without him?
My last baby used to sleep on his tummy. For the past few days, it had been difficult. They just terminated my husband’s bright future.
She said, “I am calling on government to do something about it; let them not keep quiet. Justice must prevail over my husband’s death. I don’t know where to start because the vacuum he left cannot be filled by anybody.
“My daughter has just written her common entrance examination and would be admitted into secondary school by September. I don’t know where to start and where to end.”
The younger brother of the deceased, Emeka Ukwa, said his aged mother and father depended on his brother for survival and that he was praying fervently to God to give them fortitude to survive the painful death of their son.
Emeka described his late brother as a hardworking and caring young man who was full of life but was sent to an early grave by some yet-to-be-identified persons.
Emeka said, “My brother was still a very young man. I was sleeping in the midnight when my phone rang and the person that called me on the phone was from our village. He said that a member of the state vigilante group, Neighborhood Watch, called him and said they saw a corpse around Haraca Filling Station and that an ID card of the person bears Ukwa Monday. Before I could reach there, his corpse had been taken away by the police.
“Why my brother’s death pains me most is that my father and mother are very old and he was the one taking care of them as a health personnel. I don’t think my father and my mother can bear the death of my brother.”
Ukwa’s death was confirmed on Monday morning by the Ebonyi State Police Command. His body was said to have been recovered along Abakaliki-Enugu Highway.
Ukwa was survived by a wife, four children, nine siblings, aged parents and parents in-law.
Meanwhile, the Police has confirmed the arrest of some persons in connection to the crime.
