UK-bound Nigerian killed by robbers who thought he was calling police to report their operation

A Nigerian man who has perfected plans to return to the United Kingdom has been killed by armed robbers.

Wisdom Chukumerem, 30, from Awo Ommamma in the Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State, was shot three times in the chest by armed robbers at the World Bank junction roundabout in Owerri, the state capital.

A group of robbers were at the location to rob a POS operator. The father of two was there at about the same time to withdraw some money from the POS operator. He was said to be standing nearby making a call while the robbers were quietly robbing the POS operator.

The robbers spotted Chukumerem and assumed he saw them and was calling the police. They went after him, shooting him three times even as he told them he was not speaking with the police.

His immediate elder brother, Shedrack told the Punch in Owerri, on Monday, after the police operatives released the mortuary tally to him and gave him the clean bill of health to bury him, said that his family was trumatised by the killing of his younger brother.

The distraught 32-year -old said that the armed robbers who robbed the POS operator killed his brother after accusing him of calling policemen to storm the scene.

He said that all the appeals his brother made to the armed robbers that he was not calling policemen fell on deaf ears as they shot him dead on the spot.

The businessman said that his brother was pronounced dead at the Umuguma Specialists General Hospital where policemen took him.

He said, “My name is Shedrack Anulika Chukwumerem. My younger brother’s name is Wisdom Somtochukwu Chukwumerem. He returned from abroad about three years ago. He had a house at world bank Area N And I was living with him in his house when I was driving a commercial service bus known as Bus Imo.

“But I relocated back to the village to start up a business. We are from Umuduru Isieke in Awo-omamma in the Oru East local government area of Imo State. At about 8pm on 10th August 2023, I received a distress call from his wife that my brother was shot by armed robbers.

“So I drove straight to Owerri that same night and I was directed by the Policemen there to come to the Imo State specialist hospital and when I got there I saw my brother’s lifeless body and policemen were present there.

“He was married with two kids, all girls. He would have been 30 years on November 27. He ought to be traveling back to the UK by the first week of September before he was shot dead. So, the policemen told me that there was an armed robbery attack at the Umuguma roundabout at a POS stand and my brother was there to withdraw money eventually he was shot because they noticed he was on call and the robbers thought that he was trying to call the police against them.

“And he was shot in the left side of his chest. So I deposited his body at the morgue that same night. The policemen took the tally and told me to report the next day. He was my immediate younger brother. I’m 32 years old. He would have been 30 on 27 November.

“Now I have been compelled by the police at Umuguma Division to open a case file and I told them that I don’t want any case and I’m not interested in any case. They told me to open it even if I don’t want any case which I did.

“I went with them to the scene of the incident. It happened between 8 and 8:30 pm precisely. I have gone to the scene of the incident with the policemen and gone to the mortuary. They took pictures which I paid for. They told me to go to court and swear an affidavit which I did.

“The policemen at Umuguma Division transferred the matter to the homicide section of the State CID in Owerri which I did with money all in a quest to release my brother’s corpse for burial.

“And I was pushed to contact a lawyer. With the help of the lawyer, I have written an application to the CP for withdrawal of the case. The policemen are with the application which I submitted last week.”

Displaying the mortuary tally to the Punch on Monday, Shedrack said that the policemen at the homicide section of the state police command had released it to him.

He said, “After meeting with the IPO in the company of my lawyer this afternoon, the mortuary tally of my brother has been released to me. Look at it. I can now bury him. But I will first take his corpse to a closer mortuary in my town to enable me to plan for his funeral rites easier.

“He was our breadwinner. My widowed mother is depressed. Our father died 20 years ago. His first daughter is three years old while the second daughter is just a year and three months. It is a very bad development for us. We are very saddened.”

When contacted, the spokesperson for the police in the state, Henry Okoye, said that the withdrawal of the case and the family’s request for the police to allow them to bury their son do not in any way affect the investigation process.

He said that the police would continue with their investigation and once the suspects are arrested, they would be arraigned for murder.

“The withdrawal of the matter by the family doesn’t affect the police investigation. We will continue with the investigation. Once the fleeing suspects are caught, they would be arraigned for murder,” Okoye explained.