Shedrack Chukwumerem tells CHIDIEBUBE OKEOMA how the killing of his younger brother, Wisdom Chukwumerem, by suspect armed robbers in the World Bank area of Owerri, the Imo State, has left his family distraught

What was your relationship with the deceased?

My name is Shedrack chukwumerem. The person killed was my younger brother. His name is Wisdom Chukwumerem. He would have been 30 years old on November 27 this year. We are from Umuduru Isieke in Awo Ommamma, Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State. He was married and had two daughters. The first one is three years old and the second one is just a year and three months old.

How was he killed?

On August 10, at about 8:30pm at the World Bank roundabout in Owerri, my brother went to a Point of Sale operator to withdraw some money. While he was doing that, a gang of criminals stormed the place. While they were robbing the PoS person, they accused my brother of making a phone call reporting them to the police. My brother pleaded with them not to kill him. He told them that he was not calling policemen on them but all the pleas he made to them fell on deaf ears as they shot him three times. Eyewitnesses said the armed robbers did not accept the explanation my brother gave to them as they killed only my brother.

How were you informed about his death?

He returned from the UK about three years ago. He had a house in the World Bank area and I was living with him in his house when I was driving a commercial bus known as Bus Imo in Owerri before I relocated back to the village to start a business. At about 8pm on August 10, 2023, I received a distress call from his wife that my brother was shot by armed robbers. So, I drove straight to Owerri from the village that same night and I was directed by the policemen there to go to the Imo State Specialist Hospital where he was rushed to. I got there and I saw my brother’s lifeless body and the policemen who took him to the hospital were present.

What was his occupation?

He was a businessman. He returned to Nigeria about three years ago. He was supposed to travel back to the UK in the first week of September before he was shot dead. His travel documents were ready. I was the one who scanned the last documents for him. Those robbers destroyed my family. This is so devastating.

What happened after he was confirmed dead?

He was shot in the left side of his chest three times. I saw the bullet wounds. I deposited his body at the morgue that same night. The policemen took the mortuary tally and told me to report the next day. When I returned the next and demanded the tally I was compelled by the police at the Umuguma division to open a case file with some money which I did. I told them that I didn’t want any case and that I was not interested in any case, but they told me to open it even if I didn’t want any case. After opening the file, I followed them to the scene of the incident. They took pictures which I paid for. They told me to go to court and swear an affidavit disclosing that I did not want any case which I have done. Who would want any case when those who shot my brother dead fled and haven’t been caught? My brother’s case was later transferred to the homicide section of the state police command in Owerri, which I did with money all in a quest for them to release my brother’s corpse to me for burial.

Has the mortuary tally been released to you?

Yes. It was released to me on Monday evening by the investigating police officer in charge of the matter. My position was that since there was no known suspect in the incident, holding my brother’s tally was unnecessary. It would delay his funeral, and the more that is done, it would cause trauma for us as a family. In my quest to get the police to release his mortuary tally, I had to contact a lawyer. With the help of the lawyer, I wrote an application to the CP for the withdrawal of the case. My request has been granted and I now have the mortuary tally.

When do you intend to bury him?

Very soon. The thing now is that I can now bury him. I want to do that quickly so that the process of the family healing from the devastating death will commence. I will first take his corpse to a closer mortuary in my town to enable me to plan for his funeral rites more easily.

How did your parents react to his death?

Our father died 20 years ago and our widowed mother is sad. She cries every day over the death of her second son. She is depressed and traumatised. Sorrow has engulfed her because my brother was the breadwinner of the family. Everybody in the family depended on him. This is a young man who was supposed to travel to England in the first week of September. Now, they have taken him away from us. He was a victim of a wicked world. How could those wicked criminals shoot my one and only brother dead over a useless claim that he was calling the police on them? He begged them to spare his life but they refused and shot him three times, making sure that he was dead before they left the scene. Oh, my God! This is too much for me to bear. Look at the young lady he married. She cries every day. Now, I have been left to take care of my widowed mother, his young wife, and little children. This is too much on me. How can I carry this load? Why is this world this wicked?.

What kind of a person was your late brother?

He was an industrious person. He was very ambitious and cared for everyone around him. He traveled abroad before his 25^th birthday and worked very hard to improve the fortunes of the family. When he returned to Nigeria three years ago, he kept working to travel to Europe. We kept praying and finally to the glory of God, he succeeded. The United Kingdom gave him a visa. We were very happy. We were eagerly waiting for September, his traveling date, before he was murdered in cold blood. My heart aches. He was very hardworking and very futuristic, a smart person. He married very early. You had two daughters in a marriage of less than four years. He would have been 30 years old on November 27. So, he married before his 27th birthday. That is to tell you the kind of a person he was. He was very progressively minded. He was my only brother. We were close. I miss him so much.

He was very young. Keeping his corpse in a morgue for so long would further worsen our sorrow. We checked and asked why his corpse would be lying at the morgue when his killers were nowhere to be found. Nobody knows the identity of those who killed him. Keeping him there would compound the sorrow of the family. When his corpse was lying there, everybody in the family, especially my mother and his wife, was just crying. His children are little but they ask about their father everyday. This is very unfortunate. The police can continue their investigation while we bury him. I am very angry that my brother was a victim of wickedness. The young man was on a call but the robbers accused him of calling the police on them. He pleaded with them and even gave them his phone to confirm that he was not in any way calling the police but they ended up shooting him three times in his chest. Oh, what a wicked world! (Saturday PUNCH: Text, Excluding Headline)

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