The lifeless body of Nnaemeka Okoli, a 45-year-old trader, was at on Sunday, June 30, 2019, discovered at the boundary between Osete and Ugwuakwu villages, both in Umuchu community, Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State.
Report has it that the deceased was swept away by flash flood while on his way home from his shop at the end of the day’s business.
According to a source, the deceased, who traded at Nkwo Market Umuchu, had on the fateful day, at about 7pm, shut his shop and was homebound under a heaven downpour.
The source said: “It was raining heavily and night was fast approaching as at the time he closed. But on his way home, he was said to have fell into a deep drainage system that was filled to capacity with fast moving, devastating flood.
“The heavy flood swept him away and nobody could ascertain where the flood had taken him to. His family got tired of waiting for his arrival from the market and went to sleep and handed over the entire thing to God until the next morning when a search party was set up.”
The source said that the search party intensified its search for him and later found his lifeless body at a lonely boundary spot. He disclosed that Okoli’s body has been deposited at a morgue in Umuchu.
In a swift reaction, the state Chairman of the Civil liberties Organisation, CLO, Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme, attributed the trader’s death to the rehabilitation of the Umuchu road by the State Government, adding that the flood was not properly channeled by the construction firm.
While thanking the government for the rehabilitation of the road after years of pleas, the Anambra CLO boss said: “It may not be unconnected with the construction work going on at Umuchu by the state government.
“There should be proper channeling of the flood. This man had closed his shop and left because it was raining heavily and night was fast approaching not knowing that it was death that was knocking on the door until he was washed away by the devastating flood and the corpse.”
When the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Haruna Mohammed, was contacted, he said that there was no official report of such incident, promising to contact the Divisional Police Officer of the area.
