Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano has petitioned South African High Commissioner over the gruesome murder of Mrs. Obianuju Ndubuisi-Chukwu in Johannesburg on June 13.
Ndubuisi-Chukwu, the Deputy Director General of the Chartered Institute of Insurance of Nigeria, was murdered in her room at Emperor’s Palace Hotel while attending a meeting of the African Insurance Organisation.
Obiano, who had requested Secretary of the Federation requesting intervene in the matter, urged the South African envoy to ensure her killers are brought to book.
He said the murder of the 53-year-old, an indigene of Anambra, had thrown the state into mourning, pleading she must not die in vain.
According to him: “The fact that Mrs. Ndubuisi-Chukwu was a representative of the Nigerian nation in an international conference gives so much gravitas to the case.
“It needs to be tackled urgently at the highest level which I sincerely believe you can duly facilitate. What is more, I cannot keep quite when the life of a distinguished Anambra State person is wasted brutally. We must get to the roots, no matter the cost.”
He added: “Unravelling the circumstances of the heinous murder is a clear and present need which the South African Government needs to undertake with requisite thoroughness and transparency.
“The loss of a highly talented professional such as Mrs. Ndubuisi-Chukwu challenges us all to call on the reserves of our cherished African brotherhood to make sure that justice is done.
“It is so depressing that at 53 years of age, the departed distinguished indigene of my State was poised on much higher achievement before her tragic death.
“The least that can be done for her now is to prove that she did not die in vain by probing effectively her killing and getting the killers to face justice.”
Short of alleging the investigation was being obstructed, Obiano stated: “The CCTV footage in Emperor’s Palace Hotel where she was strangled will go a long way to lead to a closure on this matter. Any further delay in solving it all cannot be countenanced.
“We are so disheartened that it has taken about a month after the killing of the lady, and not much progress has been recorded in tracing the killer(s).
“The obviously orchestrated cover-up by not releasing the CCTV footage in time clearly points to a deadly collaboration on the portals of evil.
“It is my bounden duty to stress the necessity of delving into the crime with the seriousness it deserves to win justice.
“It needs reiteration that Mrs. Ndubuisi-Chukwu was not an ordinary person. As a top corporate executive billed to become the chief executive of her organization early next year, she represents one death too many. Her untimely death churns the mind.
“There is a solid pedestal to start from now that the South African Department of Home Affairs has in an autopsy report stated quite pointedly that Mrs. Ndubuisi-Chukwu was strangulated.
“Autopsy report by the Department of Health released on June 27, 2019, confirms that she was strangulated. Who did it? The question must be answered since the first duty of the state everywhere is the security of life.
“I sincerely believe that a painstaking investigation will expose the criminals.
“I implore you to use your good offices to get justice for the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Obianuju Ndubuisi-Chukwu.”
