Lagos-based man, Livinus Idoor, narrates how his younger brother, Chinedu, was stabbed to death during a church bazaar in Enugu, Nigeria on the 30th of December 30, 2021.
“I was not around when the incident happened. It happened in our village in Enugu while I was in Lagos on that day. My brother, Chinedu Idoor (33 years old), travelled from Lagos, his base, to Enugu on December 28, 2021. He travelled by night on December 28 and arrived in Enugu on the morning of December 29. On Thursday, December 30, he went for the Harvest Thanksgiving and Bazaar of the Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Ezza Nkwubor Nike.
He was a cheerful and generous giver, who was loved by people around him because of his goodwill. He was hard-working and believed in himself. My brother was a businessman but when he had some setbacks in his business in 2019 he bought a bus and went into commercial transportation.
I was in Lagos, so, I didn’t witness what happened. But around 10 pm on that fateful day, my in-law called that my younger brother was stabbed to death in the church. It was as if I was struck by a thunderbolt when he told me that.
When I asked him who stabbed my brother, he said a group of boys stabbed him while they were fighting with him over a chair that he was sitting on at the church. According to him, the boys stabbed my brother with knives and pieces of broken bottles.
I was told that the boys are from the same community. I was told that their identities were not immediately known because, according to what I was told, there was a power outage when the incident happened and the people who were around, ran away immediately my brother was stabbed. So, when the community leaders arrived at the scene, they found nobody who could explain what happened. Nobody spoke until the following morning when the people that witnessed the incident started giving names of those who killed my brother. They mentioned the names of four persons involved in the murder.
My brother did not die on the spot, I was told that the President-General of the community with other leaders of the community first took my brother to about two hospitals. He was eventually confirmed dead by doctors. So, they deposited his body in a morgue. I was told that after the news spread that my brother had died the boys who killed him ran away.
I travelled to Enugu immediately I was told of the incident and on further inquiry, I was told was that those boys were dragging a chair with him. My brother was sitting on a chair at the church during the bazaar and he stepped out to answer a call and before he came back one of the boys had already taken over his chair and sat on it.
When my brother asked him to vacate the seat, he refused. The boy was said to have told him: “Who are you that I would get up for you to sit?” It was at that point that they began to struggle over the seat. Then the boy invited his group members and they pounced on my brother with the knives and broken bottle pieces in their hands.
No one has been arrested yet. The matter was first reported at the Enugu Metro Police Area Command before it was transferred to the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department. But the police have not yet arrested the culprits. The police said since those involved had run away they would start to look for them.
I just want justice for my brother. I want all those involved in his murder to be brought to justice.”
