The Enugu State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a young man who allegedly killed his mother, Mrs Charity Orji, and his sister, Miss Ukamaka Orji, and buried them in a shallow grave in their backyard in the state.

The suspect, identified as Somadina Orji from Igboariam in Anambra State, was said to have committed the offence on Monday, December 4, 2023, at Umuagu Inyi, in the Oji River Local Government Area of Enugu State.

According to various reports and videos of the incident, the late Charity, a native of Inyi but married in Igboariam, Anambra State, had been living in her family house with her children for some years.

Unfortunately, her son, who allegedly deals in hard drugs and has been having issues with her for some time killed her.

A community leader in Inyi, Mr Ben Obi, who spoke to some journalists, stated that the problems started weeks ago when the suspect had an issue with the younger brother.

He added that the suspect had wanted to hit him (the younger brother) before the mother stopped him and reported the incident to the kingsmen asking them to come and chase him away from the house because he wanted to kill the younger brother.

Meanwhile, the younger sister had been missing for two weeks before he had the problem with the mother.

However, the community leader further explained that the mother went for a condolence visit at Akpugoeze, and upon her return in the afternoon, the son, Somadina, killed and buried her in a shallow grave in their backyard.

He said that when the younger brother came back and was looking for the mother, he suspected something was wrong and raised an alarm.

“When the villagers gathered at the compound upon interrogation, Somadina confessed that he had killed the mother.”

He also confessed that he killed the younger sister some weeks ago. Barrister Ben also said that when the Police were invited, the remains of the mother and the sister were exhumed and deposited at the mortuary, and the suspect was arrested.

Ben also explained that Charity, until her death sold fufu to feed her Family.

He called on the government to come to their rescue to avoid issues like this in the future.

Also condemning the act, the coordinating president general in Oji River, Mr. Ejike Tasie, said the use of hard drugs in the Inyi Community is alarming, calling on the anti-drug agency in Oji River to help them check the use of these drugs in their various communities in the local government.

Confirming the incident The PUNCH on Sunday, the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said the suspect had been arrested and an investigation was still ongoing.

Ndukwe said that immediately after the investigation is concluded, he would be arraigned in court.

“The suspect has been arrested, and the case is under investigation. The suspect would be prosecuted once investigations are concluded.”

More than a hundred were killed and many more injured for no fault of theirs, last Sunday in the Tudun Biri community, Kaduna State. The attack was unbelievable.

Survivors said some bodies were in pieces. Another said parts were picked from trees. The aftermath was devastating. The military raided the small community to destroy terrorists but mistakenly bombed civilians.

For the past few days afterwards, the world has continued to lament what many said was the result of an intelligence failure on the part of those saddled with the task of protecting lives and properties.

For the past few days afterwards, the world has continued to lament what many said was the result of an intelligence failure on the part of those saddled with the task of protecting lives and properties.

The sights have been pathetic. Among the survivors is a deaf and dumb girl nobody knows what to do with her or how to trace her family. She is among the few Christians residing at the Tudun Biri community of Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Three of her relatives were among those Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) otherwise called drone  propelled by the Nigerian Army, mistakenly killed during a Maulud celebration. They mistook innocent civilians for bandits. Now, nobody knows her identity. She is alone. Nobody has come forward to claim any relationship with her. No one could tell her next destination since the people close to her didn’t survive it.

I couldn’t eat for days due to trauma — Idris

Malam Idris is another survivor of the Kaduna tragedy. “I have not eaten for days now because of the trauma,” he said.

The gory sight, the stench from decomposing flesh and blood, the thought of missing family members and friends, had changed his body chemistry. Food was no longer what he wanted at the time.

He said the effect of the drone attack was so enormous that many bodies were found in shreds. It was a sight he prayed never to see again.

“While we were in hospital, one of our relatives affected by the drone attack died. He was buried yesterday.

“More people are being brought to the hospital. Many other victims were not even found. Body parts were picked on nearby trees

. “My uncle is the Village Head, he told me 85 died. But many were in pieces and could not be counted. My mother’s younger sister was in pieces. After the first drone attack, our forest officer, Bashir was speeding on his motorcycle to render help.

“Unfortunately, he and other rescuers were killed by the second drone attack, about 30 minutes after. Those who went to the scene of the attack might have seen the charred remains of his bike. He and his friend, Nasiru are no more.”

Our men who fought bandits are gone — Yahaya

As people were mobilized from neighbouring villages to come and assist the victims after the first attack, Yahaya Abubakar from neighbouring Ifira village escaped death by whiskers. Sadly, those who arrived the scene earlier were caught up by the second drone and many were killed.

Abubakar said, “Before this attack, the bandits were not able to attack Tudun Biri. The people fought them fiercely.

“But now most of the able men have been killed. Our fear now is that the bandits could attack us easily now. Those who fought them have been killed. I was lucky but our friend who rushed to the scene on his bike, was killed by the second drone.”

I’ve lost all my relatives, can’t go to Tudun Biri again – Hasiya 

Hasiya Shuaibu, another survivor of the Kaduna bombing, looked worried. She said no one was left among her relatives in the community, as they were all gone due to the drone attack.

“I lost all my relatives. The attack affected our children, our younger and elderly relatives. We’ve lost an entire generation. The government should come to our rescue. I can’t go back to the village again,” she said.

The founder of a parish of Celestial Church of Christ in Lagos State, Aderemi Dabiri, has said the reason why he invited Fuji singer, Alabi Pasuma, and street-hop artiste, Portable, was to gain new converts.

The cleric made this known in a video where he was seen addressing a delegation of the church’s task force who visited his parish to have an audience with him.

The white garment church came under heavy criticism recently for inviting secular artistes to its praise night event.

While explaining the rationale behind the decision, Dabiri revealed that the choice of the two artistes was to attract deviants in the society.

According to him, the pattern of evangelism had worked for him over the years and also resulted in the growth of his church membership.

He said, “It is not our first time inviting guest artistes. We have been doing it without a problem and I can give you a series of instances. We cannot go where they sell palm wine or alcoholic drinks and ask them to accept Jesus Christ. If I don’t apply wisdom, they will hit a bottle on my head. That was why I thought of a way to bring them into the church.

“I also noticed that there are some notorious boys who cause trouble in the community, disturbing the authorities and engaging in cultism. I wondered how can we draw their attention so that they would have a change of heart. We have gone to places where they are and they ended up beating us. Most of the members of my church are new converts and it was through that pattern that I converted them.”

Dabiri, who criticised some gospel ministers for being disrespectful said he preferred to invite secular musicians.

“Some gospel ministers are rude. If you talk to some of them, they respond rudely, but the day I called Pasuma, he sounded respectful on the phone and also agreed with my stance,” he said.

Responding to the concerns raised by the task force team about the raging controversy caused by the development, Dabiri indicated that he had no plans to cancel the invitation.

However, he explained that he would reduce the excesses of the artistes at the event, especially Portable.

He said, “We will tell Portable not to dye his hair and he should not sing vulgar songs but to sing gospel music. We will also caution him not to dress inappropriately or climb the speakers.

“We will also warn him not to allow his boys to smoke here. We have invited close to 30 military personnel to man the event.”

The cleric also appealed to the Celestial Church worldwide to support his vision, as he would use his style of evangelism to make the church proud.