‘I don’t know why cultists murdered my lover’

A grieving 24-year-old lady, Chinwe, whose lover, Ifeanyi Onunkwo, was repeatedly stabbed until his intestines started gushing out, has said that she didn’t know why her man was attacked.

Onunkwo, 27, was said to have been attacked and stabbed to death at Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, by suspected cultists. He was attacked opposite Onitsha South Mass Transit in the metropolis.

Chinwe said she was at home when people came to tell her that Onunkwo had been stabbed. She was shocked when she found him covered in blood. He was writhing in pains and barely breathing. With assistance of sympathisers, Onunkwo was rushed to the general hospital, but sadly doctors were on strike. He had to be moved again to a private hospital where he died.

Chinwe recalled with sadness the fateful she found her boyfriend in a pool of blood.

She said: “When I got to the scene, I saw Ifeanyi in a pool of blood. He had been stabbed on his head, hands, legs and stomach. His intestines were gushing out, but he was still breathing.”

It was learnt that Onunkwo, from Imo State, lost his parents at an early age and was allegedly abandoned by his relatives to fend for himself. Determined to survive at all cost, Onunkwo became a bus conductor.

Lonely and without any family, Onunkwo met Chinwe and fell in love with her. It was only natural for Onunkwo, who needed a sense of belonging to embrace Chinwe’s family and adopted her mother and siblings as his.

He was the breadwinner of Chinwe’s family and used to pay the rent for their home, which was one of the shops at areas where building materials are sold in Abakaliki.

This shop is where Chinwe, her three siblings and mother, have been living in the past four years.  Chinwe told our correspondent that her lover’s death has left a vacuum in her life and that of her family.

She said: “Ifeanyi and I had been dating for long, even my mother is aware of our relationship. His parents are both dead. His relatives didn’t care about him. They didn’t even allow him to get close to them. That was why he became so close to my family. It’s because he loved me, that he loved and cared for my family."

Chinwe, who cried uncontrollably as she talked, said: “Ifeanyi was a nice guy. He was caring and gentle. He was also a hardworking man. I doubt I would ever find any guy to love me the way he did. He was my life and passion.

“Ifeanyi was a bus conductor. On that fateful day that he was killed, he said he was not feeling fine. About 4p.m., he said he wanted to go out and look for a bus, which he could work with. He said he was broke. I begged him to eat his food and take his drugs. He obeyed me; he ate the food I had prepared for him. He later went out after insisting he needed to find out if he could get bus to work with that day.

“A few minutes later, a boy ran to me and said that Ifeanyi was lying in a pool of blood opposite Onitsha South Mass Transit. The boy said Ifeanyi had machete cuts all over his body. I quickly rushed to the scene. Many people were already there. We took him to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, because he was still breathing. When we got to the hospital, he was not given any attention because doctors were on strike. We then took him to a private hospital where he died.”

When contacted, the Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Loveth Odah, said that it was yet to be reported to her office.