A 36-year-old man, Mr. Samuel Kalu aka ‘Akilu’ (Bitter Kola) has been shot dead by unknown gunmen while having a haircut at a barbing saloon located at Umuibe Street, off Item Road, Ndiegoro Aba, Abia State.
New Telegraph reports that the incident, which took place on Sunday morning, threw residents of the area into panic, as they ran away from their homes for fear of the unknown gunmen.
Kalu, who hailed from Igbere, in Bende Local Government Area of the state, was born and bred at the Ndiegoro axis of Aba where he was brutally killed.
He is survived by his wife, his daughter and aged parents that he was staying with when he recently returned from his base in Malaysia some months ago.
The New Telegraph learnt that the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based Kalu returned to Nigeria before the COVID-19 lockdown and was planning to return to the Southeast Asian country before he was assassinated.
A source close to the deceased, while Kalu was having his haircut, said that he got a call from unknown persons and immediately after answering the call, unknown gunmen besieged the barbing saloon.
According to the source, the gunmen shot Kalu on the head at a close range while on the chair and took his phone away, ostensibly to conceal their identity through the last call he received which might have been theirs.
Some residents of the area pleaded with Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to do something about the security situation of the entire Ndiegoro axis of Aba, especially the Ngwa Road and Ohanku areas.
When contacted for their reaction, the Abia Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, in what has become a recurring attitude towards journalists by the leadership of Abia Police Command, refused to answer or respond to text messages sent to his mobile phone.
