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Bartholomew Eneh, the father of Tochukwu, one of the students abducted and killed by unknown persons in Okposi on Sunday has accused youths of the community of being responsible for the killing of his son and his classmate, Chukwuemeka Ugwu.
Mr. Eneh spoke to reporters in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The accusation came just as the police found the copses of the two students, who were Junior Secondary school students of Federal Government College Okposi, Ohaozara local government area, near a river in the community.
The students where allegedly abducted on May 12 while returning to school from the town where they went to have a haircut preparatory to going home the next day, Friday the 14th.
Mr. Eneh said he called the school when his son failed to return on the day he was supposed to return and that was when the guardian told him that they were looking for him.
He said since then I have been to Okposi twice and to Abakaliki twice.
“I am happy that the governor, Dave Umahi, gave the CP an order to properly investigate the matter. And since then she has been up and doing. Yesterday (Sunday) she was there with a team of security men from Police, Army and DSS. In fact the whole town was on fire when we came in.
“While we where holding meetings, the CP got information that the bodies were in the river and we went there and their bodies were recovered.”
He said initial reports from medical doctors in the team revealed that the bodies were dumped in the river the same day they were abducted and accused the community youth of being responsible because the new principal refused settling them.
”The old principal was the one who struck the deal with the villagers and some workers in the school were also benefiting as they used the opportunity to siphon money from the school authorities,” Mr. Eneh said.
“But the new principal refused to be giving them money and these workers went and created the impression that the school was fighting the community. The group then threatened to punish the school in return.
“I believe the two boys were a victim of the problem and were just caught in the crossfire of the crisis between the community and the school.
“We will bury my son tomorrow (today).”
He called for justice for his son’s killers to assuage the pains of the affected parents.
The Chairman of the Local Government, Justice Ogbonna, debunked the accusation levelled against the community.
According to him the school since inception has had peace with the community and the community would not now start having problems with the school.
Meanwhile, the Ebonyi State Police Command said that it had recovered the bodies of the two students
The command’s spokesman, George Okafor, an assistant superintendent of police, in a statement said the report on the disappearance of the students was reported May 14.
“The CP led other senior police officials with the command’s Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) team for an on-the spot assessment and rescue of the students,” he said.
The statement noted that in the course of interaction with community leaders, youth and other stakeholders, it was found that two bodies were discovered at a bamboo groove in Ata River, about half a kilometre from the college premises.
“In response to the information, the command recovered the decomposing corpses of the two missing students whose parents were there to identify.
It noted that the corpses had been evacuated and deposited in a morgue awaiting autopsy.
“The command is appealing to all citizens to assist in providing relevant and timely information that would nip all forms of criminality in the bud,” he said.
The statement assured citizens of the state of adequate protection of their lives and properties at all times.
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