Gunmen assassinate Federal Polytechnic Deputy Registrar in Imo

Gunmen in Imo State have reportedly assassinated Innocent Obi, the Deputy Registrar of Federal Polytechnic, Uwana, Ebonyi State.

Obi, known as “Onye Army” among locals, met a tragic end in Ezeala/Ezike autonomous community in Umuezeala, Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state. The assailants, posing as Biafra agitators, carried out the act.

Having previously served in the military, Obi had retired from the armed forces before joining the staff at the Federal Polytechnic Uwana. He had aspirations to become the institution’s substantive registrar before his untimely demise.

Reports indicated that he had traveled back to his Umuoboama village for the burial of a relative, a soldier slain in the Northeast. Upon returning to his family house after the funeral weekend, he fell victim to the attack. Over six hoodlums, disguised in military and police uniforms, forcibly entered his home around 10 p.m.

According to witnesses, the assailants broke through the main door, wielding machetes and axes. Obi’s desperate cries for help brought villagers to the scene, but the attackers fired shots into the air, compelling the would-be rescuers to retreat. The gunmen proceeded to abduct Dee Onye Army that Friday night, leaving behind a harrowing scene with traces of blood in the house.

“The villagers summoned a search party for him the following day on Saturday. It was late Sunday afternoon that we got information about a decomposing corpse lying between Ehime Mbano and Ahiazu Mbaise.

“When our people visited the scene that Sunday, it was the dead body of our brother, Dee Onye Army, that we met. They gruesomely butchered him beyond recognition.

“Dee Onye Army was a man who ensured that any youth who wanted to go to school got admission. So many youths were given admission in his school. He never lived like a rich man, always unassuming. It was now that he started building his house in the village, and that building is just within the decking stage before his death.