Omoku New Year massacre: Soldiers met my wife dying in my arms, turned blind eye—Bereaved husband

GRIEVING family members of some of those killed in the New Year eve by marauding gunmen in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, ONELGA, Local Government Area, Rivers State, yesterday, narrated how their loved ones were killed and the pains they are going through.

Bright Nwokocha said his wife, Joy, who died among those shot could have been alive if soldiers that met her bleeding didn’t turn a blind eye. Nwokocha, 34, told Vanguard at his Lucky Ojobo residence, that his 34-year-old wife, who hails from Isoko in Delta State, was entrapped with their three children on a bike metres away from their home while returning from the New Year eve service. He said: “I read in the paper that there were two shooting scenes. Far more than that; the bloodsuckers were on a rampage.

They met my wife and children already near home on our street. I had cautioned that they stay home and watch Emmanuel TV for the crossover service, but she insisted they go to church. “I went my way, returned home earlier, called them at past midnight and they said they were home-bound. Minutes later, I called to know how close they were, but there was no response.

“The next minute, I heard booming sound of guns in succession close to the house we live. My second daughter rushed in shouting, ‘Daddy, Daddy, come, come some people are shooting knock-out and Mummy is sleeping there.’

Nwokocha further narrated: “I rushed to the scene and saw my wife lying on the road in a pool of blood. Our four year-old baby, shot in the buttocks too, was screaming.

All my neighbours, who could help, ran into hiding out of fear. “I held my wife, confused as to how to rush her to hospital. Then an Army van came in. I raised my hands up, shouting, ‘don’t kill me oo, my wife and daughter have been shot among other persons coming from New Year eve service. Please help me’.

“The soldiers in the truck peeped from the vehicle. One muttered some words in Hausa and they zoomed off, leaving my wife dying in my arms. It was too late when help finally came from a neighbour, who volunteered to take us to the hospital in his car, where my wife was pronounced dead.

When Vanguard visited his home, relatives, friends and neighbours were gathered consoling him. He cried: “My wife has left me. Men who have their own wives, children and parents, just trapped and shot my wife dead and they expect their homes and wards to be safe. It is well.”