Updated: Confusion as NECO Registrar Godswill Obioma Dies
- Barely a year after his appointment as NECO registrar by President Buhari, Professor Obioma is dead
- While some media reports state Obioma was killed by suspected assassins, the police and NECO have said Obioma died of heart failure
- A close family friend also reportedly claimed that the registrar slumped in his room and was discovered by his wife and driver
PAY ATTENTION: Join Legit.ng Telegram channel! Never miss important updates!
Minna, Niger state- The sudden death of the registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Professor Godswill Obioma, has generated controversies.
An earlier report by The Punch had stated that Obioma allegedly killed by gunmen suspected to be assassins.
However, a new report by PM News stated that both the police and officials of NECO said Obioma died a natural death and also reconstructed the timeline of his death.
Source: Twitter
According to senior NECO officials, Obioma arrived from Abuja on Monday morning, not Monday night.
NECO officials who visited him at about 9am at his Dutse Kura quarters in Minna, were told by Obioma that he would soon report in the office.
But by 2pm, Obioma had not shown up, making another delegation go to his home. The delegation found him alone in his master bedroom, sprawled on the floor, face down. He was stone dead.
His brother, who stayed in Minna was invited to see the body. His body was thereafter evacuated to Abuja.
Meanwhile, The Nation in its report cited a close family friend as saying that the registrar slumped in his room and was discovered by his wife and driver.
According to the newspaper, the duo drove him to the hospital where he was certified dead.
In a message sent to the Director, Human Resource Management in NECO, Mustapha Abdul by a son of the late Registrar, Prince Godswill Obioma the 2nd, the family confirmed that the Registrar died after a brief illness.
The message reads:
“Dear Sir, this is to formally inform you that my father Prof. Godswill Obioma, the Registrar/Chief Executive of NECO passed to eternal glory yesterday 31/5/2021 after a brief illness.
“We request that you kindly notify the Board, Management and the entire staff of the Council of this development. We shall keep you duly informed.”
Legit.ng notes that Obioma was appointed as the Registrar of NECO on the 22nd of May 2020.
Ahmed Gulak killed in Imo
Professor Obioma's death came when Nigeria is still mourning the death of Ahmed Gulak, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Gulak was assassinated in the early hours of Sunday, May 30, in Owerri, the Imo state capital.
The police in Imo state said the former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan was killed while he was on his way to Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, to catch a flight.
IPOB not responsible for Gulak’s assassination, says Uzodimma
Meanwhile, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state has said the killing of Ahmed Gulak, a former presidential aide, has a political undertone.
Addressing a press conference in Owerri, the state capital, on Monday, May 31, Governor Uzodimma dismissed the claim of the Imo state police command that Gulak was killed by members of the outlawed IPOB.
Excerpts of the press statement were sent to Legit.ng by Amaka Okafor, special adviser on new/ and electronic media to Governor Uzodimma.
PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read the best news on Nigeria’s #1 news
Governor Wike speaks
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has said that Governor Uzodinma is giving the impression that he knows about the circumstances surrounding Gulak's death by pronouncing the killing as a political assassination.
The Rivers state governor made the statement in an interview with Channels Television on Monday, May 31.
He asked his Imo state counterpart to allow security operatives to conclude their investigation before attributing the murder of the APC chieftain as a political assassination.
Source: Legit.ng
