Against reports from the Imo State Joint Task Force that one of the leaders of the Eastern Security Network ESN Mr Anayochukwu Nwokike aka Ikonso was killed during exchange of gunfire between the outfit and security operatives, elder brother to Ikonso, Mr Anulika Nwokike, has contended that his younger brother was killed in his house in the presence of his wife and three little children.

The elder brother who spoke to this reporter in Awka recalled that Ikonso had come home to pass the night and about 1: 45am the Joint Task Force made up of soldiers and policemen stormed their compound, brought him out and shot him several times until he died. “My brother came home to rest and pass the night on that fateful day but at around 1: 45 am, we had noise of heavily armed security men and they surrounded our compound, broke into the main gate and started shooting into the air. “They went from house to house, room to room and found him in his room, brought him out and started firing at him until he died and in the presence of his wife and three little children,” Anulika said.

He stated that the five buildings in their compound were attacked and two were burnt and property destroyed in the onslaught. He added: “What the Joint Task Force told you is not true because I was there when it all happened and they did not want to talk to anyone and didn’t want to listen to anyone.”

Nwokike said that the family of the late Ikonso was going to court to challenge the killing because they neither took him to court nor arrest him. Also speaking a UK based human rights lawyer Mr Paul Achalla told reporters that they are going to establish that Ikonso was unlawfully killed contrary to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “This was exactly what happened during the Apo killing of some Igbo persons in Abuja by police officers and it all went that way but this time it will not work because this is extrajudicial killing.

The killing is contrary to what the police said about his death and we shall pursue it legally and we are demanding that his corpse be given a befitting burial,” Achalla said. Ikonso, 39, was said to be a youth leader at his home town Awomama Oru West in Imo State and led the resistance against the presence of Fulani herdsmen in the farms before joining the Eastern Security Network. His wife could not speak with reporters due to her psychological state occasioned by the killing of her husband.