Sixty-two (62) year old businessman, dealing on cement, Mr. Vitalis Okoro, has been murdered in cold blood by unidentified hired assassins. The incident occurred Wednesday night in Calabar Municipal of Cross River State.
DAILY POST gathered that the assassins chased the victim’s son out of the house at about 4am before pouncing on him. The deceased had a block moulding industry that crumbled.
An eyewitness who confided with our correspondent said, “The suspects had after killing Okoro in his bedroom, dragged the corpse into his Toyota Sequoia and drove some metres away from his house along Anaku Street, off People’s Club Road in the Ikot Effanga Mkpa area of Calabar, before abandoning the vehicle”.
“The assailants gained access to the house after destroying one of the burglaries in the sitting room. The victim’s three bedroom bungalow is built in an unfenced plot of land.
“Okoro’s throat was tied with a blue dotted clothe, while there were several cuts in his mangled body. They abandoned the vehicle not too far from the house when the fuel got finished” he stated.
Another eyewitness, this time a woman said, “She heard a loud scream from Okoro’s house at about 4am and shortly afterwards some persons opened one of the doors and dragged the body into his parked car and drove out of the compound.
“I heard screaming at about 4am and when I peeped through the window, I saw that his car was there and shortly afterwards some people opened one of the doors in the house and dragged out his body. I guess they may have gained access to the building through the back.
“It was only when he shouted that I woke up. I had wanted to call the police, but I did not have airtime. Even if I had, I am not sure I would not have achieved anything because they left shortly afterwards with his body in the vehicle. It meant they had already killed him before they brought him out.
“I later learnt in the morning that they drove the son out of the house before killing him. After the incident, my son, who was later in the morning going to work at about 5.30am called to inform me that they have killed Okoro and abandoned his mangled corpse in his car. He said that they left the key in the ignition.”
The younger brother to the deceased, Mr. Moses Okoro, said he learnt about his elder brother’s gruesome murder at about 8am when he got a call from a friend. He said he immediately rushed towards his house where he met the abandoned car along the street with blood stains in the back seat.
He disclosed that the brother had an estranged relationship with the wife who is currently under interrogation by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Cross River State Police Command in Calabar.
According to him, the victim’s business had crumbled in Calabar and there were plans to relocate him to their hometown in Mbano, Imo State when the incident happened.
“My brother had been at loggerheads with his estranged wife in the last four years. She had three children for him. All attempts to bring them back together had failed because she refused. The police had invited the women and they said when she came she asked if her son, who was staying with my brother, was alive and in safe hands.
“Some two weeks ago, we concluded that he would be relocated to Owerri and I would set him up but that after a while he would sell his house here in Calabar to aid his new business life when this incident happened,” he said.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, confirmed the incident, adding that investigation was ongoing to unravel those behind the murder, “Yes, the incident occurred and an investigation is ongoing. Nobody has been arrested for now.”
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