A businessman, S
unday Onwe, has lost his life and some valuables in bizarre circumstances while trying to revive his ‘failing’ business through a ritual in Enugu.
Onwe, a native of Amuri, in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, was a trader based in Aba, Abia State.
Our correspondent gathered that, worried over the dwindling fortunes of his business, Onwe made enquiries about any native doctor who could revamp the enterprise through occultic means.
Onwe eventually got in touch with one Afam Nweke, from Ozalla, also in Nkanu West Local Government Area Enugu State, who linked him to a native doctor, Victor Agyula, from Alaede, in Benue State.
The native doctor instructed Onwe to come to Enugu on June 22 for a ritual, which, he was told, would revive the failing business.
Before arriving for the ritual, Onwe checked Nweke and the native doctor into a hotel in the Gariki, Awkunanaw area of Enugu, where they waited for him to join them.
Onwe arrived later on the same day and in the early hours of the next day, June 23, he followed Nweke and the native doctor to a bush at Ozalla, along Enugu Port Harcourt expressway, for the ritual.
But the ritual took a deadly turn as Onwe was made to drink a liquid concoction suspected to have been prepared with acid.
Also, he was made to strip naked, while the acid was poured on his body.
Onwe became unconscious and the native doctor and Nweke immediately made away with his Toyota Avalon car, his mobile telephone handsets and the sum of N430,000 which he had on him.
Unfortunately for the native doctor and Nweke, Onwe was still alive, and the victim, who was still unconscious, was discovered by a passerby, who rushed him to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, where he was admitted with severe internal and external acid burns.
At UNTH, Onwe regained consciousness and narrated his ordeal in the hands of the native doctor and Nweke.
But he was unable to recover from the injuries and as a result, was discharged from UNTH and referred to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu.
The businessman eventually gave up the ghost at the orthopedic hospital.
The spokesman of the Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the development, said the information provided by Onwe led to the arrest of Nweke and the native doctor by operatives of the homicide section of the State Intelligence and Investigation Department.
According to Amaraizu, Nweke, who had been in hiding since the incident, was nabbed on August 13.
Amaraizu disclosed that Nweke was investigated and later arraigned in court for conspiracy and murder and had been remanded in prison custody.
In the same vein, the native doctor, Agyula from Alaede, who had also been on the run after the ‘ritual’, was eventually arrested in Markurdi, Benue State, on September 24.
Amaraizu said the two suspects were assisting the police with information as part of further investigations into the incident. (The Punch)
