The family of Charles Velly Nwankwo from Ogbozine Akpugo autonomous community in Nkanu west local government area of Enugu state has announced the disappearance of their children over leadership tussle in the community.
In a statement made available to Blueprint in Abuja Thursday, signed by the head of the family, Chief Michael Nwankwo, he alleged that their children disappeared on November 25, 2019 “as a result of the leadership tussle that has claimed the lives of many members of the community.”
The statement reads in part: “The children left the community because of the continuous tussle over leadership. The kingship election has been causing a lot of crisis for a very long time and has led to the murder of people in the community. The Nwankwo family decided to take cover, following the last month burning of our house and killing of one of our cousins, which made others to run away; fearing the worst as it mostly affects male children.
“The crisis deepens daily over kingship against the will of the people. The people have not experienced peace for sometime now. This same crisis led to the gruesome murder of a monarch in Ogbozine Akpugo autonomous community in 2018. It has speedily spread, causing most of the male children in the community going into exile for fear of being killed.
“The people of the community are hoping that normalcy returns as we can no longer sleep with our eyes closed. Michael Nwankwo’s children’s whereabouts is unknown. During the burning of our family house, where the younger brother, Joseph Nwankwo, was killed, others ran away.”
