Tragedy struck in Owerri, the Imo state capital city, on Friday, December 9, when gunmen enforcing a sit-at-home order killed Prince Iheme, the elder brother of Nollywood actor Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw.
The attackers reported to belong to a faction of the proscribed agitators of Biafra were said to have carried out attacks in parts of Mbaitoli, Orji and Owerri.
An eyewitness told The Punch that the gunmen who were dressed in black drove in a convoy of three vehicles.
The gunmen were said to have attacked the convoy of the All Progressives Congress candidate for Mbaitoli/ Ikeduru Federal Constituency, Akarachi Amadi At Ubommiri in the Mbaitoli local government area of Imo state,
While Prince Iheme was killed on the spot, the state commissioner for Solid Minerals, Martin Eke, was rushed to the hospital after suffering a machete wound.
“Prince Iheme was riding in the same vehicle with the commissioner for solid minerals. Prince Iheme, who is Pawpaw’s elder brother, was killed on the spot. The commissioner, who was sworn in two weeks ago, was cut badly. He has just been rushed to a hospital. They were driving in a Ford SUV. “I pray he makes it,” someone who witnessed the attack said.