Sunday, February 16, 2020

Murder in SA: Imo community boils as villagers mourn cousins

Steve Uzoechi, OWERRI 

A razor blade tension has enveloped Oru West Council area of Imo State, where two cousins, Ifechukwu Odenigbo (Ide) from Amorie, Ubulu and Declan Nsofor (Batista) of Etiti Ubulu, both came from.


The two men were cousins seen in a trending video, fighting over money in South Africa. Batista, the older cousin had hurled a brick at Ide, which landed on his head, killing him.

The community is not just losing Ide to death, but also losing Batista to South Africa prison. It was double tragedies for the community.

The death of Ide in South Africa caused a chain reaction in both men’s community in Imo State, in Nigeria. Angry youths were said to have set the house of Batista on fire in protest of the death of Ide.

However, our reporter, who visited the troubled community yesterday, received conflicting reports on the characters of both men.

A member of the community, which wishes to remain anonymous, said: “The deceased was my close buddy, but he and his cousin used to trouble our community before they left for South Africa. Frankly, nobody in this village knows what both do in South Africa for a living. One thing I know however is that Nsofor had never backed away from a fight. Before they left the shores of Nigeria for South Africa, they had worked with some politicians, especially during elections. In fact, it was some illustrious sons of the community that supported and contributed money to send both men to South Africa."

The Imo State Police Command has confirmed the burning down of Batista’s home by angry youths of Ubulu community. The angry youths claimed that Batista had breached a deal in an unnamed business in which the deceased was his surety. 

It was further alleged all efforts by Ide to get Batista to fulfill his part of the bargain and free him from liability was futile, leading to the fisticuffs that ended in fatality.

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