Nnaku, Nnokwa community in Idemmili local government area of Anambra State has been deserted. The police were making arrests and nobody wanted to be caught. Nobody too was speaking.

It was double tragedy in the community as a 38-year-old man, Christian Nwokike, was murdered allegedly by his younger brother during a scuffle over the ownership of a family building.

There were three brothers from the same mother but two were against the eldest allegedly in support of their mother, Mrs Nwokike. There were conflicting reports on what happened but two people are dead in the family following the rift.

A source said the eldest brother came home but his brothers prevented him from sleeping in the house. He was said to have started building the house in question, before things went bad and his younger ones completed it. He was said to have been killed by one of his siblings after he insisted on sleeping in the house.

Their mother, on hearing the news, allegedly slumped and died at Nnobi Police Station the same night when she was taken there to give account of what transpired in the family.

The two bodies, it was learnt, have been deposited in an undisclosed morgue in Nnobi or Nnewi.

A source said there had been a feud in the family involving the brothers before the incident.

Head of the family, Mr Chi Ifeakandu, declined to comment on the matter. He directed Sunday Vanguard to Nnobi Police Station which he said was the right office to speak to the media.

Sources at Nnobi Police Station confirmed the incident but directed us to Awka where the Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State, Mr Uche Eze, said: “I’m not aware of it. I have not heard about it. I must tell you I’m just hearing about that for the first time. There has not been any signal to my office to that effect.”

The traditional ruler of Nnokwa, Igwe Emmanuel E. Ajamma, Oranyelu IV; and the President General of the community, Eugene Ezekwem, could not be reached at press time for comments on the incident.

-Vanguard