Nov. 2, 2023

The children of late Prof. Dora Akunyili have said the family is yet to get justice over the gruesome murder of their father, Dr. Chike Akunyili, two years ago.

Mr Obum Akunyili, one of the children, said this when he appeared before the Anambra State Truth, Justice and Peace Commission during a public hearing on violence and violence-related deaths in Anambra.

Obum said more painful was that justice had not been done on the matter since their father was murdered at Nkpo, Idemili North Local Government Area, on Sept. 28, 2023.

“My father’s death was senseless, violent and barbaric. We are still trying to come to terms with it as a family.

“We are still waiting for answers to that killing, there are rumours but no answers, there has been no trials, I don’t think anybody has gone to court to answer for that murder,” he said

Obum said all they have got was insinuations that their father was killed by the so-called unknown gunmen but there hasn’t been any fact to back the claim.

He said the murder of their father was a great mistake that whoever was responsible would live to regret and that nobody would like to be associated with such a heinous act.

“You cannot rule out the fact that it was a politically-charged period, there were lots of killings under the umbrella of unknown gunmen, so the accusations based on social media theories will not be correct.

“I feel everybody ran from the blame because of the personality of my father, nobody wanted to be associated with his killing, nobody wanted to be identified as the person that killed Dora Akunyili’s husband.

“It is all assumptions, none of these theories has concrete evidence that you can prosecute, prosecution is fine with facts and knowledge, these are not what we want now.

“When my mother died, people insinuated that she was poisoned, whereas she died of cancer, we were in the hospital with her,” he said.

Obum regretted that their late father and his driver bled to death as no effort was made by those around to take him to the hospital for a possible survival chance.

“My father had about 10 per cent survival chance. It was a traumatic injury that required a whole lot to save him but he did not get to the hospital before he died.

“If he had reached the hospital, we would know there was an attempt, that they did all they could to save him but nothing like that .

“There was a hospital seven minutes away, Borromew was 15 minutes away from there but no attempt.

“The driver’s case was worse, he was shot and people were asking him his name, where he is from and he was bleeding to death, people were trying to make viral videos,” he said.

He described his father as a good man who lived a fulfilled life and devoted himself to philanthropy, cared for the needy and treated people for free when he could.

He thanked the Truth Commission for giving them the opportunity to tell their story and expressed hope that their inquiry would lead to a fruitful outcome for Anambra and the Southeast.

Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, Chairman of the Commission, led other members in sombre commiserations with the Akunyili family and urged them not to be discouraged by the incident but continue to excel in their various chosen fields of endeavour. (NAN)