A United Kingdom-bound Nigerian, Wisdom Chukumerem has been shot dead.
The 30-year-old Nigerian was shot three times in the chest by armed robbers at the World Bank junction roundabout in Owerri, the state capital.
When his killers struck, the father of two was said to be withdrawing money from a Point Of Sale operator.
His immediate elder brother, Shedrack, who spoke exclusively on Monday after police operatives released the mortuary tally to him and gave him the all-clear to bury his younger brother, said his family was traumatized by his death.
The distraught 32-year-old claimed that the armed robbers who robbed the POS operator murdered his brother after accusing him of ordering police officers to storm the scene.
He claimed that all of his brother’s pleas to the armed robbers to not call cops fell on deaf ears, as they shot him dead on the spot.
According to the businessman, his brother was pronounced dead at Umuguma Specialists General Hospital, where he was taken by police.
“My name is Shedrack Anulika Chukwumerem,” he introduced himself. Wisdom Somtochukwu Chukwumerem is my younger brother. He returned to the country three years ago. He owned property in World Bank Area N. And I was living with him in his house at the time when I was driving a commercial service bus called Bus Imo.
“However, I moved back to the village to start a business.” We are from Umuduru Isieke in Awo-omamma, Oru East, Imo State. On August 10, 2023, around 8 p.m., I received a distress call from his wife informing me that my brother had been shot by armed robbers.
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“So I drove straight to Owerri that night and was directed by the policemen there to come to the Imo State specialist hospital, where I found my brother’s lifeless body and policemen were present.”
“He was married and had two daughters. On November 27, he would have been 30 years old. He should have been back in the UK by the first week of September before being shot. So, the cops told me that there was an armed robbery attack at the Umuguma roundabout at a POS stand, and my brother was there to withdraw money. He was eventually shot because the robbers noticed he was on call, and they thought he was trying to call the cops against them.
“And he was shot in the chest on the left side.” So I took his body to the morgue the next night. The cops took the total and told me to come back the next day. He was my younger sibling. My age is 32. He would have turned 30 on November 27th.
“Now, the police at Umuguma Division have forced me to open a case file, and I told them that I don’t want any case and am not interested in any case.” They told me I had to open it even if I didn’t want any cases, so I did.
“I accompanied them to the incident site. It occurred between 8 and 8:30 p.m. I went to the scene of the crime with the cops and then to the mortuary. They took photos for which I paid. They instructed me to appear in court and sign an affidavit, which I did.
“The police officers at Umuguma Division transferred the case to the homicide section of the State CID in Owerri, which I did with money in order to have my brother’s body released for burial.”
“I was also pressured to consult with a lawyer.” I wrote an application to the CP for the case’s withdrawal with the assistance of a lawyer. The police officers have arrived with the application I submitted last week.”
Shedrack showed the mortuary tally to our correspondent on Monday, saying that the policemen at the state police command’s homicide section had released it to him.
“The mortuary tally of my brother has been released to me after meeting with the IPO in the company of my lawyer this afternoon,” he said. Examine it. Now I can bury him. But first, I’m going to take his body to a nearby mortuary in my town so that I can plan his funeral rites more easily.
“He was our sole source of income. My widowed mother suffers from depression. Our father passed away twenty years ago. His first daughter is three years old, and his second is only a year and three months. This is a disastrous development for us. We are devastated.”
When contacted, the state police spokesperson, Henry Okoye, stated that the case’s withdrawal and the family’s request for the police to allow them to bury their son have no bearing on the investigation.
He stated that the police would continue their investigation and that once the suspects were apprehended, they would face murder charges.
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“The family’s withdrawal from the case has no bearing on the police investigation.” We’ll keep looking. “Once the suspects are apprehended, they will be charged with murder,” Okoye explained.
