Youths burn hotel over alleged murder in Imo community.

Youths from Umulogho community in Obowo Local Government Area set fire to a portion of a hotel building due to the suspected murder of a staff member, Ebuka Nwaneri, who was accused of stealing a phone belonging to a military personnel over the weekend.

The hotel owner, Ibe Obasi, and the military personnel, who visited the hotel for leisure, allegedly accused the staff member of taking the missing phone.

According to a community source who informed The Nation, the deceased was confined in a generator room in an attempt to force a confession.

Tragically, the victim succumbed to the reported torture and passed away.

The suspects then disposed of his body by tossing it over the hotel fence into the nearby bush.

However, the community’s youth discovered the body the following Saturday morning.

A source in the community said: “The deceased was working for the suspect and a phone got lost,the phone belonged to a military man on duty at the community.

“He went to the hotel for relaxation and his phone got lost. The hotelier and the security officer  in a bid to recover the phone started beating him, before locking him up in his generator house inside the premises of the hotel.

“When he found out that he had died, they threw him over the fence of the hotel to avoid being suspected.”.

Enraged young people from the neighborhood attacked the hotel and set a section of it on fire.

They also warned of a possible revenge on the hotel owner’s family if no action was taken against him regarding the situation.

Another community source, Chimezie Mbakwe, verified the incident and requested the police to move the case from the Otoko Divisional Police Station, where the suspect is detained, to the headquarters to prevent mob violence.

Chinagorom Cyriacus, the Youth President of the community, advised the area’s youths to stay calm, ensuring that all those involved would face legal consequences.

He said: “We also want to assure the good people of Umulogho that the perpetrators of this inhuman act must be brought to book at all means.

“We also want to urge all more importantly the youths to stay calm and not to take further action or take laws into their hands.

“We want to assure the people that the leadership of Umulogho Autonomous Community at all levels are working so hard to arrest the situation more especially the ongoing massive arrest by the military.”

A trustworthy police source revealed that the Imo Police Command has assumed control of the escalating crisis in the troubled community.

Contacted,  the Army PRO Joseph Akubo,  said:  “We are conducting investigation to find out if any of our soldiers are involved in the incident. If anybody shows sign of indiscipline,  we will not shield any of our soldiers involved.

“The Army has no place in any of this and our commander has directed that if any soldier is found guilty,  he will face the music.”

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