An Anambra resident, Mr. Ikeh Edeh has cried out to the public over the alleged determination of a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Anambra State to kill his brother, Mr. Ugochukwu Edeh.

Ikeh told Our reporter that Ugochukwu fell out with the politician, (name withheld) after he (Ugochukwu) refused to play a part in a thuggery role during the 2007 general elections.

He disclosed that the trouble became pronounced on the 21st day of November, 2015, during his grandmother’s burial at Nara, when some gunmen stormed the funeral venue in an apparent plan to murder his brother.

According to him, “our family members were laying to rest our grandmother, Mrs. Rebecca Nwankwo, who passed on at the age of 104. While the ceremony was on, during the night of songs, some gunmen stormed the venue and ordered that we produce our brother, Mr. Peter Peter Uchechukwu Edeh, who is also a grandson to the deceased. However, Uchechukwu was not around because he did not come home for the burial.

Asked what could have caused the squabble between Ugochukwu and his assailants, he disclosed that he was among the students recruited “to form a gang of armed thugs, who were supposed to work for the politician between 2006 and 2007,” adding that “Ugochukwu turned down the offer and joined a group of like-minded students to create public awareness campaign against exploitation of poor and vulnerable students by politicians.

“Within that period of 2007, he was kidnapped and tortured for four days before he managed to escape with multiple wounds. They are after him because they feel he would leak some of their secrets, as they ended up committing so many heinous crimes within that period.”

Ikeh, who equally narrated his ordeal in the hands of the gunmen, further stated that he was thoroughly beaten up and ordered to lie face down at gun-point, stressing that “they threatened to kill me unless I produce my brother. They felt that we were hiding him and for that they kept shooting sporadically.

“In fact, at a point, our mother ran out pleading with the armed men not to shoot me; she repeatedly offered herself to be killed instead of me or Ugochukwu. Four of my sisters, who equally ran to the scene, were crying as our mother kept shouting ‘kill me if you must kill somebody’”.

He noted that although the assailants left after several minutes, it was still unclear what would be their next line of action