Sit-At-Home: Osita Iheme’s Brother Reportedly Shot Dead By Unknown Gunmen

Gunmen who were reportedly enforcing the five-day sit-at-home order, declared by Simon Ekpa, attacked portions of Owerri, Mbaitoli, and the surrounding area in Imo State.

The gunmen opened fire in several different locations, killing Prince Iheme, who is a police officer and the older brother of prominent Nollywood actor, Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw.

The state’s commissioner for solid minerals,
Martin Eke was also attacked by the gunmen.

According to a witness, “Prince Iheme was riding in the same vehicle with the commissioner for solid minerals, Martin Eke. Prince Iheme who is Pawpaw’s elder brother was killed on the spot. The commissioner who was sworn in two weeks ago was cut badly. He has just been rushed to a hospital. They were driving in a Ford vehicle. I pray he makes it.”

People were reportedly forced to flee for safety by the gunmen who came in Trundra operational vehicles and fired randomly.

Businesses suddenly started to close down, while drivers abandoned their cars and fled randomly, leaving the roads and streets desolate.

The gunmen, who were dressed in all black, came in three vehicles at Orji, close to the state capital of Owerri, and attacked locals and onlookers, including police officers.

Witnesses informed Punch that the gunmen jammed the police officers at the 7up junction in Orji and killed one of them with a single gunshot.

The eyewitness said, “They just killed a policeman now. They opened fire on them and were shouting there is sit at home. We have asked you to go home. Stay indoors.

According to another eyewitness: “I just escaped death by a whisker now. They stopped before us and asked us to go home. They didn’t shot at us maybe because I was in the midst of some elderly women.”

Additionally, it was learned that the fleeing gunmen fired repeatedly at the Nkwo-Orji market before escaping toward Okigwe Road.

The gunmen ambushed Akarachi Amadi, an APC candidate for the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency, near Ubomri in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area.

A mother named Onyii Manifestation and her child also escaped the attack in the state’s Ideato North Local Government Area, at Obodoukwu.

She wrote, “Unknown gunmen!!! Thank you Jesus. They didn’t come for money but for life…They shot sporadically this afternoon but God protected his own. No life was lost!!! Help me thank God for saving us from the attack of unknown gunmen….at Obodoukwu ideato north IMO state. Not my head. Not my blood. Attack will come but you shall be saved…Says the Lord.”