It was on Sunday, 16th of May, 2022, that Okechukwu Okoye, a lawmaker representing Aguata II Constituency at the State House of Assembly, and his aide, Cyril Chiegboka were kidnapped as they were returning from a trip. Since then, the Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has condemned the kidnapping, especially after the lawmaker was found Saturday, 21st May 2022, murdered and relieved of his head.
In a statement made on Saturday night through the Government’s Media Aide, Christian Aburime, the governor called the murder “barbaric” and “heartless.” He said that the news had been a rude shock and had elicited deep sadness in him when he first heard it. Consoling the murdered lawmaker’s relatives, Soludo reassured them as well as the Anambra peoples in general as he and his government are resolved and determined to bring the perpetrators of this act to book, as well as to improve general security in the state.
The governor pointed suspicious fingers at the criminal gang that had attacked him two years before, killing three policemen in the process, and said that he strongly believes that it was the same person that had struck again. He, however, said that the people of Anambra could not be cowed by such threats and promised an N10 million naira to any group or persons able to provide valuable information that would lead to the successful capture of the murderers.