Ohanaeze protests Nmaduka of Abia LP’s beheading

Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the secretary-general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide group led by Chidi Ibeh, has denounced the assassination and beheading of Mr. Zachary Nmaduka, a leader of the Labour Party from the state’s Umunneochi Local Government Area, by unidentified assailants.

This was stated in a statement made by Isiguzoro, a former Hanaeze youth leader, on Wednesday in Aba.

In order to better combat crime in the region, he asked security agencies and governors in the Southeast to increase intelligence collecting and surveillance.

“Critical stakeholders, every citizen of this great nation show efforts and bring forward their vast wealth of experiences and expertise to the table in order to address insecurities and other many myriads of challenges impeding our efforts to achieve economic greatness and enhance critical infrastructure development in every sector of Nigerian society for the benefit of the people.

“I want to emphasise unequivocally that there should be a pressing need to design a practical security system that is cloaked in effectiveness and efficiency.

“All security apparatuses’ Rapid Response Units need to be drastically improved and expanded in order to be able to act quickly to put a stop to criminal activity in any Abia locations.

In order to achieve predetermined objectives, which solely depended on safeguarding every area of the Nigerian federation, he stated, “Government should ensure adequate funding of all security apparatuses.”

No community can prosper in a climate of insecurity, he emphasised to every Abia resident, thus it is imperative that all relevant parties make the necessary efforts to develop practical, modern security measures.

He urged the recently established Abia security unit, code-named “Operation Crush Initiative” by Governor Alex Otti, to see to it that those responsible for the horrible death of the unarmed civilian are apprehended and prosecuted.

Isiguzoro made a plea to the populace to keep providing security agencies with their full cooperation, particularly in terms of information sharing regarding the obnoxious threats and criminal element hideouts in any area of the state.

He expressed sympathy to the deceased’s friends and family as well as to the state’s Labour Party leadership.

He also instructed the Abia government to enrol the late Nmaduka’s family in state-wide job and scholarship programmes, including monthly stipends and other significant welfare development programmes, in order to lessen the anguish brought on by the heinous crime.

On September 13, 2023, in the communities of Umuchioke, Ezieka, and Akpukpa Uturu in the Isiuakwato L Government Area of the State, Nmaduka was brutally murdered by as-yet-unidentified gunmen.