By PETER DURU, Makurdi
FOR Mrs. Florence Akema Nwati, who met her untimely death in a bizarre manner in Katsina-Ala few days ago, life could not be more cruel considering the manner of her death and the fact that she also lost her husband of two decades just one year ago.

Before her death, she ran a mini supermarket in Katsina-Ala, a town about 200 kilometres from Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

Her death has continued to generate controversy in the town she lived; this is just as neighbours and friends alike find it rather unbelievable that a lady who had lived in peace with her immediate community could be murdered in cold blood by a young man who hitherto had  claimed to be her friend.

*Late Mrs Florence Akema Nwati

In fact, her death came just less than 20 minutes to her rounding off the day’s activities in her drinks and provisions store inside the popular Katsina- Ala Main Market. But the least thing that came to the mind of Mrs Florence Akema Nwati on Monday, March 19, was that death could be lurking around and that she would not reach her home alive.

An eyewitness to her heinous murder who is a little boy that assisted the deceased in her daily business, identified her assailant as one Kenneth Huli whom he said was a ‘familiar face’ and customer.

The little boy said the alleged assailant sauntered in as usual into Mrs. Nwati’s shop that evening and nobody, including the deceased, suspected any foul play. But when a quarrel ensued between the two almost immediately, resulting to the instant death of the woman, the entire scenario changed.

The man reportedly broke a bottle and stabbed the helpless woman and left her lying in a pool of her blood. She bled to death before being taken to a nearby hospital where she was confirmed dead.

Another eye witness who craved anonymity told Crime Alert that the assailant came in and requested for a sachet of ‘pure water.’ He said the woman who was already preparing to close shop refused on the excuse that it was not cold, and continued with the packing of her wares.

But the man was alleged to have insisted that she must give him the water and later forced his way to pick the water from the deep freezer. But just as the woman struggled to stop him, he picked a bottle, broke it and stabbed her on the chest and other parts of her body.

Efforts by other customers to rescue her were also said to have been thwarted by the blood lusty man who scared them with the bottle.

However, they were able to alert the Katsina Police on the barbaric act and Police men were said to have responded immediately and arrested Kenneth.

The witness further disclosed that last year, the cold hands of death had snatched the deceased’s husband and bread winner, leaving her alone to cater for herself and their only son, Jesse, a Computer Science student of Benue State University, Makurdi.

Before death did them part, it was gathered that both of them lived happily even as the couple hailed from Benue and Imo states respectively. She was actually said to be on the verge of completing the mourning rites of her husband when she met her untimely death. However, there is a twist in the case of culpable homicide preferred against Kenneth by the police.

Unconfirmed sources said that he is claiming that he shared an intimate relationship with the woman but went out of his way to kill her over a disagreement.

But in his testimony, the late woman’s only son, Jesse, debunked the claim. He said: “As her son, I’m supposed to know this deadly character but I didn’t know him prior to this horrible act.  She too never told me anything about Kenneth before he killed her. Even the little boy (aide) that stayed with her knew and simply described the killer as “a customer”.

Crime Alert gathered that after the preliminary investigations at Katsina Ala Police Station, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Makurdi for prosecution. Which has also been confirmed.

And with the damage already done, the family members, relations, friends and even sympathizers who are still wondering why any sane mind would terminate the life of another one in such a dastardly manner are now crying for justice.

Meanwhile, the deceased’s son Jesse, who is yet to believe that his mum had left him after his father died a year ago to face an uncertain future, is lamenting the fate that has befallen him.

He said as he wept: “My world has been turned upside down and I don’t know where to start from now. As the only son of my parents, I’ve been rendered an orphan untimely. My future has become unpredictable too. After my father’s death a year ago, the responsibility of catering for me and my school in the university fell on my mother and now she’s no more”.

Jese described the tragedy as the biggest blow in his life because, “I was trying to sort out other challenges before going back to school but as it is now, confusion is the word.  My academic pursuit in the university is heavily threatened too except there’s a divine intervention to see me through.”

At the SCID, Makurdi, where the suspect is being detained, the IPO in charge of the case who confirmed the story said that full investigations had been concluded on the matter and the suspect has already been charged to court.

However, when the case came up on Wednesday March 28, it was stalled because the presiding Judge was said to be unavoidably absent in court but the IPO assured that a new date will soon be fixed for the hearing of the matter.