By Uche Amunike
Doctor Chike Akunyili, widower of former Director-General of the National Agency of Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has been shot dead, Tuesday by yet-to-be-identified gunmen at Nkpor in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state.
The deceased was returning from an event organized by the Alumni Association of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNAA, where his late wife and former Minister of Information was honoured with a posthumous award of excellence.
He was in traffic when the gunmen struck, shooting him and 7 others including his driver and security aide.
Governor Willie Obiano who addressed Anambra indigenes at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, Wednesday, vowed that he will leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators of the dastardly act are brought to book.
He made a plea to Anambra citizens and all leadership structures of the state to support government and security agencies by reporting suspicious activities and also gave an emergency line, 0703 919 4332 for reportage of crime and useful information to security agencies.
That was when he pledged a reward of Twenty million Naira (N20m) for any useful information that will help in arresting the criminals, charging security agencies to arrest the criminals behind the death of the late Dr Akunyili and nine others in such gruesome manner.
Former governor of Anambra state, Mr Peter Obi has reacted also to the ugly situation of Akunyili’s murder.
In his interview with journalists, he said that he was in Lagos when the news filtered in through the social media and he had to book a flight back immediately to confirm it.
According to him, he rushed to a hospital where he gathered that Akunyili was rushed to and met with the son of the deceased, so together they went for the corpse and confirmed it was really Dr Chike Akunyili.
He expressed a deep-seated pain at the way such a quiet gentleman like Chike Akunyili was violently killed for no reason in sight, confirming that he was killed alongside his driver, police security aide and others.
He described Dr Akunyili as a man of peace who cannot hurt a fly, adding that he was a good man who took life very easy and who was always happy with himself.
On her part, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed untold sadness over the brutal manner in which Dr Akunyili was killed in cold blood.
She verified it in her Twitter account where she offered her condolences to the children and entire family of the deceased, expressing heartfelt condolences to the family generally.
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari gave the assurance that the killers of Akunyili will face judgement and instructed security agencies to put in more efforts to put a stop to the killing of Innocent Nigerians.
On his part, former Bayelsa lawmaker, Ben Murray-Bruce, Wednesday described Nigeria as a nation that was losing her grip on the security of its citizens and strongly condemned his killing.
He called on President Muhammad Buhari’s government to handle the issue of insecurity in the country before it became too late, stating that Nigeria was losing grip on its security architecture and that the government needed to handle the issue before the situation became too hard a nut to crack.
He added that Akunyili’s murder was just one of the numerous deaths witnessed in the country owing to insecurity.
