The traditional ruler of Umueze community, in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, Eze Opara, is currently in big trouble. The traditional ruler, is alleged to have killed a 25-year-old graduate, Uchenna Opara, aka Junior. The incident according to story making the rounds, occurred on around 6.15pm at the community’s primary school playground.
As the story goes, trouble started when the youths, who made use of the playground for their football training, protested that the son of the monarch, Temple Opara, could not take over the field with a football team he brought from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, without informing the youths who had been cleaning the pitch for a long time.
He said the prince then gave the youths N10,000, which infuriated the monarch who demanded that the money be handed over to him (Eze). “While we were training on Wednesday evening, the traditional ruler, who was returning in his car with his guard, reversed and headed for the pitch. They both alighted from the car and started shouting at us.
“The monarch said we were challenging his authority in the community. While he was shouting, his security guard went into the car and brought out the pump-action rifle. “The monarch took the gun and wanted to shoot us, but his personal assistant attempted stopping him.
It was in the course of struggling with his PA that a bullet went out and hit Junior a 2017 graduate of Library and Information Science of the Imo State University, Owerri, on the chest on the chest.
Seeing that a youth was down, the traditional ruler, out of fear of attack from the youths, abandoned the gun and fled.
Incensed by the action, scores of youths went on rampage, setting the palace ablaze, including destroying the suspect’s Nissan car. An oil mill belonging to the monarch, which was a stone’s throw from the palace, was not spared, as the enraged youths set it ablaze as well.
Meanwhile, the Imo State Command of the police are said to have arrested the traditional ruler as well as sent a team to restore normalcy in the town.
