Exactly one year today, the peace and tranquillity in Uzinaumu, a village in the Mgbidi community in Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State, was truncated by sporadic gunshots that sent villagers scurrying back into their respective rooms for safety.

When the dust settled, a 62 –year- old widow, Mrs Justina Onunaku, was found in the pool of her blood, in her bedroom, with four bullet holes on parts of her body.

Her assailants were discovered to have scaled the fence of her building to attack her and left the same way.
Her United States-based son, Oscar Onunaku, who described her death as a heavy blow, accused some persons in the village for his mother’s demise. He revealed that before his mother breathed her last, she mentioned the names of her assailants.

Police alerted

In a letter to Police authorities on the need to fish out perpetrators of the dastardly act, Onunaku, explained, “On July 29, 2022 at exactly 7:10pm Houston time, I got a call from my younger brother about my mom’s passing. I was confused because I had spoken to her hours earlier and she was hale and hearty. As a matter of fact, she was at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that day to pick up her PVC for the 2023 election. After a while, I summoned courage albeit with tears in my eyes to ask what had happened to her.

“To my shock, I was told that my mom was shot dead. I immediately dropped the call and reached out to our last born who was with her at that time to know details of what happened. He said he was in the other building when he heard the gunshots and that when he rushed to the main building to check on my mom, he met her on the floor still breathing. He said my mom was shot at about 10pm Nigerian time but died at about 2am the next morning”.

“My brother told me that my mum mentioned the names of her killers before she died. She told my brother that they shot her four times. Our last born rushed to the Imo State Police Command, Owerri, to report the issue, and to get a police report for the hospital to be able to start treatment. Before he could get the needed police report, my mom had passed on”.

Visit of unknown gunmen

He revealed that before the attack on his mother, unknown gunmen had visited her twice, over a controversial land issue. He said that there had been a lingering dispute between his mother and some relatives over some property his late father bequeathed to them.

According to Oscar, “Months prior to my mom’s death, unknown gunmen visited her twice. The first time, they accused her of using her son’s wealth to intimidate and to take over lands. But she explained that the land in question were her late husband’s and that some people wanted to forcefully take them from her. The gunmen went away with a promise to carry out an independent investigation and that they would come back if they discovered she was lying.
After the visit, my mother reported the issue to the eldest member of the Onunaku family, who promised to resolve the issue.

“They visited the second time and revealed the name of the person that sent them to her. They requested to speak with the eldest member of the family, to tell him the reason they came and he (family head) promised to resolve the matter. When I got the news of what was happening, I told my mom to go to the police station to report the situation but due to the insecurity in the eastern part of Nigeria at that time, she did not want to bring the police into the situation, coupled with the fact that the elders had promised to call the other party to order.

“While the move for settlement was going on, her assailants threatened her severally and even called her a walking corpse. When she informed me about it, I told her to ignore them. But I regret giving that response till date. I only told her to fence one of the landed property at the front of the compound which was being encroached on”.

Accusation

Since the demise of the sexagenarian, there has been accusation and counter accusation between her children and some members of their extended family. This followed a petition to the Imo State Police Command, where the petitioner, Prince Okikajekwu Onunaku accused a member of the family of leading some unknown gunmen to his house, a day after Mrs Justina Onunaku was shot dead.

Oscar said he had been receiving voice messages of threat to his life and had reported the same to the Police. He therefore appealed to the Police to ensure justice for his late mother, adding that their investigation should include unearthing identities of those used as advance party to get information on his mother’s exact location before the hit men arrived.

Efforts to reach the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, failed. However, sources at the Command told Crime Guard that some arrests were made when news of the killing of the late Justina Onunaku was reported.