Gunmen have killed Dr Chike Akunyili, widower of the late Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dora Akunyili, at Nkpor, in the Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Unconfirmed reports said that seven other persons were also killed in the incident during the attack on Chike.
It was learnt that Dr Akunyili was returning from a journey to Onitsha, where he went to obtain a posthumous award of excellence for his late wife, when he ran into the assailants at Nkpor, and was shot and killed on Monday evening.
The hoodlums were said to have chanted, “No election in Anambra in November.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ikenga Tochukwu, could not confirm the report, saying that he had yet to get details of the incident.
It was, however, gathered that the Agulu community, from where the Akunyilis hailed, is mourning; and as such nobody was winning to speak with journalists.
A former vice-president of Agulu community, who is also a retired Information Officer with the Federal Ministry of Information, confirmed the incident to journalists on the telephone but asked for publication to be delayed without giving reasons.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Information also confirmed the incident but asked to be given time to obtain clearance to discuss the issue.