Controversies over death of NECO registrar Godswill Obioma

The registrar of the National Examination Council (NECO) Professor Godswill Obioma was reportedly assassinated on Monday night, Peoples Gazette reported.

Obioma, a professor of educational measurement and evaluation, has just returned to Minna from a trip to Abuja when the suspected assassins allegedly strangled him to death.

“The assassins came in and killed him and left without taking anything,” Obioma’s wife Elizabeth told Peoples Gazette on Tuesday.

But his son Prince Godswill Obioma said the late NECO boss died after a brief illness.

“We request that you kindly notify the Board, Management and the entire staff of the Council of this development,” the younger Obioma said in a message to Mustapha K. Abdul, NECO’s director of human resources.

When contacted to confirm the news, the spokeswoman of Niger State police command did not pick nor did he return the calls. An SMS sent to his phone was not immediately replied to.

Obioma joined the list of high-profile Nigerians killed in the last week. Former presidential aide Ahmed Gulak and former Enugu high court judge Stanley Nnaji were murdered in Owerri and Enugu states in Southeast Nigeria.

Obioma was appointed NECO registrar on May 14, 2020.

He was a former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council.

Prof. Obioma has held other key positions in the education sector, among which are: Director, Monitoring, Research and Statistics, National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB); Director Monitoring and Evaluation Universal Basic Education Programme; Director Monitoring and Evaluation National Primary Education Commission and Head, Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology, University of Jos.

Niger State where Obioma was killed, has been experiencing an upsurge in violent crimes in the past months. A student was killed and many others kidnapped when gunmen attacked an Islamic school on Sunday. 11 of the abducted students were freed on Monday because they were too small and unable to walk, a Niger State spokesman said in a statement on Monday.

The state governor Abubakar Bello said in April that Boko Haram fighters have taken over and hoisted its flag in about 50 communities in the state. 

“They’ve taken over the territory, they’ve installed their flag. I am confirming that now. They’ve taken over the wives of people by force,” he said.

“Boko Haram elements are trying to use these areas as their home just like they did in Sambisa.”