shook Imo State and Nigeria in 1996?
Some of us were kids then.
Twenty years after the inglorious Otokoto saga, which set Owerri, the
Imo State Capital on fire, over the gruesome beheading of little
Ikechukwu Okonkwo at the then Otokoto hotel, along Amakohia in Owerri,
the proprietor of the said hotel, Chief Vincent Duru (alias Otokoto)
has reportedly been hanged in the prison.
He met the hangman last Sunday, November 13th, report said.
A source informed Nigeria Newspoint, that Chief Otokoto, who was
sentenced to death by hanging by an Imo State High Court in 1996
presided over then by Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, was allegedly hanged
last Sunday, November 13th after the Imo State government reportedly
approved the execution warrant.
It was not confirmed who in particular signed the death warrant as at
press time. It could be recalled, that the heartless murder of little
boy, Okonkwo in 1996 triggered massive uprising by the residents of
Owerri, the state capital, which resulted to the arrest of Chief
Otokoto and his son, Obicheozor, in connection with the heinous crime
which was ascribed to rituals at the time. Okonkwo was beheaded under
a palm tree, but unknown to the killers, there was a palmwine tapper
high up the tree when the killing was taking place.
It was this eyewitness who fingered the killers, who in turn
identified Chief Duru and his son as their sponsors.
Investigations carried out then revealed that the then famous Otokoto
hotel was housing many shallow graves, which led to the masses setting
the hotel on fire while government locked up the premises. The street
where the hotel was located was named after the murdered boy,
Ikechukwu Okonkwo.
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