Suspected IPOB members kill 88-year-old professor

An 88-year-old professor of economics has been killed on his way from Enugu Thursday night.

The killers are suspected to be members of IPOB.

The late victim was identified much later as Prof I.O. Onyemelukwe, the father of Dr Cheluchi Onyemelukwe, winner of the Nigeria prize for Literature, 2021.

He was killed at  Oko, Orumba South Local Government Area, where they blocked vehicles coming from Umunze, Ufuma, into Oko.

Two other men, according to sources, kidnapped because they couldn’t respond well enough to questions the attackers asked about the Biafran struggle.

A Fcaebook user identified as Onyi described the late professor as his godfather.

“An 88 year old man, first class brain, Prof I.O. Onyemelukwe. He was the former permanent secretary in the old Anambra State. Later a Professor of Economics at UNIZIK,’ he said.

“He studied Economics with OAU scholarship at Adis Ababa, Ethiopia at the age of 22. He is the father of Dr Cheluchi Onyemelukwe that won LNG $100,000 literature prize last year.”

According to him, the professor was returning to Nanka from Enugu with his wife and decided to follow Oji, Ufuma, Amaokpala, Oko axis instead going through Awka when he was attacked by the hoodlums.

Another prominent southeasterners the outlawed separatists killed enroute to his base was Dr Akunyili, the husband of the late information minister, Prof Dora Akunyili.