Akunyili’s Murder Saddens Okonjo-Iweala

*Ngige expresses outrage over killings in Anambra

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday expressed sadness over the gruesome murder of a renowned medical practitioner and director of St. Leo’s Hospital, Enugu, Dr. Chike Akunyili.

In the same way, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige expressed sadness over Akunyili’s murder as well as that of other residents of Anambra State in recent time by yet to be identified gunmen.

The WTO boss wrote on her official Twitter handle: “It is with deep sadness that we hear of the brutal killing of Dr. Chike Akunyili; eminent physician, beloved husband of Prof. Dora Akunyili – Nigerian icon.

“Heartfelt condolences to his children and family. He is with God and his wife. May his soul rest in peace.”
On his part, Ngige in a condolence message to the government and the people of Anambra State, issued by his Media Office, said the “murder of Dr. Akunyili and others in what has lately become a killing field is an anomie and an unmaking of the Igbo as a race beholden to an ultra-jealous credo of sanctity of life.”

He added: “While I stand entirely with the awe and grief-stricken people of Anambra State basseted lately by incessant killings which distort whom we are, it is auspicious again to beckon on all of us to look inwards and reinvent our Igboness; for what is trending, is certainly uncharacteristic.

“This strange cavalcade of shootings, strangely becoming a fashion is diminishing our hearth, and quietly moving us to the exact spot that we must never be. And time is now to advise ourselves about ourselves and save ourselves from ourselves.

“The stray, dark-coloured goat is better tracked while the sun is bright over sky. Let’s use our toes to find the tiny object in the pool, our ancestors would advise!”
The minister further called on security agencies to intensify efforts and fish out the killers of the late Akunyili as well as those behind other killings in the state.

“They should be brought to justice,” he said.
“While hand-wringing about our situation, I urge our people to also remain resilient and neither tank in, cave in nor be desensitized to the inherent virtues of the republican Igbo. That which seeks to push us to a tragic nadir, must be avoided.”