Gunmen stormed the Ejemekwuru Customary Court in Oguta Local Council, Imo State, and shot dead the Presiding Magistrate, Nnaemeka Ugboma.
According to sources, the hoodlums arrived on motorcycles and shot randomly into the air to scare away the litigants, court officials, passersby in the neighbourhood, and individuals within the courtroom before silencing the judicial officer.
While others fled, he was left in a puddle of his blood. His body was eventually found and transported to a morgue.
The deceased was a law graduate of the 1991 batch from the Nnebukwu Autonomous Community in Oguta Local Council of the state.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Owerri chapter chairman, Ugochukwu Allinor, confirmed the event, but the Imo State Police Command spokesperson, Henry Okoye, had not confirmed as of press time.
It should be remembered that a magistrate was also assassinated on the road by gunmen roughly two years ago. The same year, Ndionyema Nwankwo, a former chairman of the NBA’s Owerri branch, was hacked to death at his office on School Road in Owerri. His body was left in his chambers until the following morning. The crime was alleged to have been committed by his driver. He fled following the event and has not been seen since.
Members of the judges and attorneys are urging authorities and security agencies to beef up security in the state’s 27 local councils.
