They were brought before the court in connection to the alleged gruesome k!lling of 20-year-old Ndukwe Isaac by angry youths of the community.
His Royal Highness Eze James Ogbonna, the traditional ruler of Okai Item, and two others have been remanded in the Nigeria Correctional Centre in Umuahia, by the Magistrate Court sitting in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, over a case of alleged m8rder.
Eze Ogbonna and one Igwe Anyim and Ndukwe Sunday Igara were brought before the court in connection to the alleged gruesome k!lling of 20-year-old Ndukwe Isaac by angry youths of the community.
According to Punch, the father of the deceased, Mr Isaac Maduka, a native of Umuikpa Akanu, had cried out for justice over the incident which occurred on January 28, 2025.
Maduka stated that his deceased son was living with his mother, Uwaezuo Isaac, at Okai Bende where they engaged in yam and rice cultivation.
Maduka recounted the tragic events that transpired, beginning with his son’s request for a financial gift from his mother so that he may get new clothing and footwear.
He added that Ndukwe’s mother refused to give him the money prompting him to take N110,000 from where his mother kept it.
He said, “My son had begged his mother that he needed to buy some clothes and shoes to be like his mates but his mother denied him that which prompted him to take the sum of N110,000 from where his mother hid it.
“The late Isaac Ndukwe, my son, admitted to his mother that he bought clothes, a radio and electrical wiring materials for his room from the N110,000 with N75,000 balance remaining.
“One of the mother’s brothers, Anyim Igwe, took the young boy accused of theft to the youths of the village. A certain Ndukwe Igara immediately called the traditional of the community, HRH Eze James Opara Ogbonna, the Ezeugo 1 of Okai Item Autonomous Community, on the phone who then instructed the youths to handle the matter.
“The youths tied both my son’s hands and legs and kept him on the road, beat him up and tortured him to death after which I was called and told that my son was dead and needed to be buried.”
He said he went there and told them not to bury him but rather put the young man in the mortuary because he was killed in a gruesome and brutal manner.
“When the ambulance arrived to take the boy’s corpse to the mortuary, the Prime Minister of the community, Prophet Igwe Kalu, threatened to burn the ambulance if it stepped an inch.
“The traditional of the community therefore used his power to order that the boy should be buried in a specified site with the youths jubilating on the announcement.
“When the matter got out of hand, I was advised to involve the government and by 6 pm on that same January 28, I reported the matter to the Igbere Police Station.”
The deceased’s father said after narrating the incident that led to the unjust killing of his son, the case was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Umuahia, after the deceased’s mother, who he was living with before his demise, made a late entry when they tried to arrest her.
According to him, “The police invited everyone involved in the case but only the traditional ruler honoured the invitation while others like Anyim Igwe, the mother’s brother, who reported the theft incident to the youths of the village and one Ndukwe Igara, who made the call to the king, all failed to appear.”
Maduka called on the state government to intervene in this case to bring justice to his late son.
