Gunmen have shot dead the Chairman/CEO, Ofoma Associates Limited, an estate surveying firm with headquarters in Port Harcourt, River State, Chief Gab Ofoma.
It was gathered that the deceased, a native of Umunnealam, Umudim, Nnewi, Anambra State, was gunned down on Sunday after he visited his country home in Nnewi and was going back to his base in Port Harcourt.
According to a Facebook post by a kinsman, Azuka Onwuka, the incident took place around the Ukpor-Lilu-Orsumoghu-Azia-Mbosi Road, which connects Anambra and Imo states, as his driver made a detour from the Onitsha-Owerri Highway en route Port Harcourt, due to the heavy traffic on the highway.
Onwuka said, “Chief Gab Ofoma, who had the chieftaincy of Ojemba Enwe Ilo Nnewi was gunned down in cold blood on Sunday by those who kill for no reason. His crime probably was that he was riding in an SUV and looked like a ‘big man’.
“Many people have been murdered on that road by these people who kill anybody that is in a big car and looks like a big man. It has become a crime to ride a big car in the South-East, except you have a battalion of security operatives guarding you.
“During the Christmas and New Year mass return, the killings reduced but the killers seemed to have resumed afterwards.”
The late businessman was a senior estate surveyor and valuer who had an estate surveying firm with offices in Port Harcourt (headquarters), Nnewi, Abuja and Lagos, employing over 150 people.
It was gathered that he was a soft-spoken gentleman whose chieftaincy title Ojemba Enwe Ilo means “a traveller or sojourner does not create enemies.”
When contacted, the state police spokesman, Ikenga Tochukwu, said he did not have the information but promised to get back to our correspondent. Later he sent a terse reply, “There is no such reply before me please.”
But a family member of the deceased, Chineme Ofoma, said he was not in a “good frame of mind to speak” when our correspondent sought to speak with him.
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