The incident occurred in the Okpuno Umuogali community of Oba in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State on Sunday.
Kingsley was accused of selling foreign doors he removed from an unfinished building owned by his elder brother, Joseph Okoye, who lives abroad. It is alleged that Joseph invited the thugs to punish Kingsley, resulting in his death.
Kosisochukwu Uzoekwe, an eyewitness and cousin of the deceased, revealed to journalists on Tuesday that there had been ongoing disputes between the two brothers over the sale of a family property.
He said, “My cousin, Joseph Okoye, the elder brother of Late Kingsley Okoye from Okpuno Umuogali in Oba, who lives abroad earlier sold one of their immediate family properties and had since refused to share the money realised from the sale of the property with his brother.
“Since then, life had been so difficult for Kingsley because he thought he could have used his own share from the proceeds as capital to establish himself.
“Recently, his elder brother began to build a house in Oba here. So, out of hunger and frustration, when Kingsley learnt that his elder brother just purchased some foreign doors to install in his new house, he went to the site, removed three doors and sold, saying that he needed the money to buy food for himself.
According to him, on hearing that Kingsley sold three of the doors in his building site, Joseph sent some money to his sister and instructed her to arrange for some thugs to beat up Kingsley and teach him the lesson of his life.
“So the sister contracted two notorious thugs and they came to Okpuno Umuogali to beat Kingsley. When the people intervened, they whisked him off on a bike. The thugs took Kingsley to an unknown destination where they beat him to a pulp.
“When they discovered that Kingsley was no longer responding, they took him to Sahara Hospital, Oba, where the doctor confirmed that he was brought in dead. As the doctor rejected him, they took his corpse to FAH Hospital and Embalment Centre, where he was deposited in the morgue,” he said.
Uzoekwe also mentioned that the individuals involved have been evading capture and have turned off their mobile phones since the incident, making it challenging to contact or locate them.
When reached for comment, Ebele, a sister of the deceased, who allegedly organized the thugs on Joseph’s instructions, did not deny that her brother was responsible for the torture of Kingsley over the stolen doors. However, she claimed that she was not the one who paid the thugs, stating instead that it was Joseph’s fiancée from Umuorabem village, Oba, who was present on the day of the incident.
“I am very sad because of the turn of events. Despite the several pleadings I and my mother pleaded with Joseph to forgive Kingsley for selling just three pieces of his doors, he went ahead to arrange with his fiancee from Umuorabem who told his brother to contact people I do not know to beat up our brother, resulting to his unfortunate death.
“Everyone is pointing accusing fingers at me that I was the one who received money from my brother, Joseph, to arrange the people that beat Kingsley to death; but it is not so.
“I went for the graduation ceremony of my children that fateful Sunday, only for Joseph to call me on the phone from abroad, informing me by himself that Kingsley died in the hands of the people his fiancee and her fiancee’s brother called to discipline Kingsley by Joseph’s instructions,” she said.
Reacting to the allegation, when contacted, the accused, Joseph, who regretted his actions said that he never intended to hurt or kill his younger brother, but only wanted some boys to find out from his brother where he kept the three doors, to recover them for his building project.
He said, “I have already tendered my statement to the Oba Divisional Police Officer at the police station. My brother has been stealing from my building site, and last Friday night, July 19, 2024, my workers discovered that three foreign doors which I bought for N85,000 each were missing; and all fingers were pointing at my brother, Kingsley.
“I told my mother and sister to help me beg Kingsley to bring back my doors or tell me who he sold the doors to, but he denied stealing them. On Saturday, July 20, 2024, I now contacted some boys from Umumpama Oba to beat him and find out the whereabouts of the doors; and then Kingsley confessed that he stole those doors with two of his friends and sold them to a wielder at N15,000 each.
“While they were beating him, I was with them on video call that Saturday and they assured me that Kingsley was still alive. I told them to take him to the nearest hospital for treatment after his confession.
“Surprisingly, I was shocked to hear from one of those boys on Sunday, July 21 2024, that my brother Kingsley was dead. I asked them what happened and I could not configure their story. I later heard from the doctor that he was brought in dead and that one of the thugs identified as ‘Jukwaaese’ and his boys ran away as soon he was confirmed dead.
He noted that his sister said that there were matchet cuts all over Kingsley’s body, dripping with blood at the mortuary, but that was not the case on Saturday when he was following up the interrogation on a video call.”
He said, “I insist that ‘Jukwaese’ who is now at large must be apprehended to tell me why he killed my brother because I only told them to beat him a little so that he would reveal where my doors were so that I could recover them, but I do not know the motive why Jukwaaese and his boys killed my brother.”
“Wherever Jukwaese runs to, he must be fished out to explain why he killed my brother,” Joseph said.
When contacted, the police division in Oba, confirmed that the matter had been reported to the station and investigations had begun.
A police source at the station said, “The matter was reported at the Oba police division and investigation is ongoing. Right now, anticult operatives have picked some suspected cultist s in Oba. Some things cannot be said now in order not to jeopardise investigation.”
