NECO, police rule out assassination in Obioma’s death

• Abia monarch mourns, as Ikpeazu clarifies he died of natural causes

The Nigeria Police Command has said that gunmen did not kill the late Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO) Prof. Godswill Obioma, in Minna, Niger State.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Wasiu Abiodun, disclosed this in a statement issued in Minna yesterday, saying the report that gunmen murdered the late Obioma was fake news.

“It is important to clarify that on Monday, May 31, 2021 the family of the deceased rushed him to the National Hospital, Abuja, where he was later confirmed dead, after a brief illness.

“However, the family has also confirmed the incident and formally notified management and employees of NECO of his death,” the statement reads.

ALSO, management of NECO has explained the circumstances surrounding the death of Obioma on Monday. A statement issued by Spokesman of the examination body, Azeez Sani, quoted the Director of Human Resource Management, Mustapha Abdul in Minna, as saying that family sources confirmed that the deceased died after a brief illness.

“This is contrary to insinuations on social media that the late Obioma was assassinated at his residence in Minna,”Sani stressed

BESIDES, Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, yesterday, described Obioma’s death as a profoundly sad occurrence and another blow to Abia State and its people.

In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Onyebuchi Emememka, the governor recalled that last year, precisely on May 22, 2020, he sent a congratulatory message to the late Obioma on his appointment as the Registrar of NECO.

MEANWHILE, the traditional Ruler of Nkpa Community in Bende Council of Abia State, Prof. Stephen Emejuaiwe described Obima’s sudden death as the worst thing that has ever happened to the community.

Emejuaiwe, who was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago and former Vice Chancellor of Abia State University, Uturu, told The Guardian on telephone that his death was devastating, lamenting that the community had lost one of its great sons.

“We do not have many such calibre of persons in the community, as it is just trying to rise. Death can only destroy his body and not his spirit. Although Obioma lived a short life, he was a man of peace and a loyal, dedicated servant of the people,” he said.