The life of a renowned columnist with Imo Trumpeta, Sun Newspapers and guest writer to numerous print media houses in the state, Prof Protus Nathan Uzoma alongside that of the publishers of Trumpeta Newspapers are in danger as suspected hired assassins are after them.
Prof Uzoma by stroke of luck escaped death as he was not available when armed men stormed his private residence for his life. Narrating his experience to newsmen yesterday, Protus disclosed that “on the 17th of March, 2013, at about 5.30 am, a group of armed men numbering four (4) stormed my house, broke into my bedroom in search of my whereabouts. When eventually they were told that I traveled, they broke my library together with the ceiling searching for me. When they became convinced that I was truly not around, they left a message with my sister-in-law to inform me that it is not over yet that they will come back and if they had seen me, they would have cut off my hand that I used in writing”.
The award winning columnist who maintains a regular page in Trumpeta stated that his travails began when he continued his crusade for truth on the present administration led by Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
According to him, “before the 2011 guber election, I took it upon myself to inform Imo people that electing him as the state Chief Executive will endanger our future in many ways. This I did through many articles I published in my column both at the national and state levels respectively. When Okorocha was sworn in, I decided to use my column in Announcer, Sun and others to advice and direct him on proper values of good governance to the extent I was called Okorocha’s Senior Special Adviser. I have written more than 100 articles aimed at giving Okorocha proper sense of direction in public administration. When I discovered that Okorocha negated all the advice I gave him through my works in my column, and insisted on doing the wrong things, I embarked on constructive criticism which in turn attracted many threats to my life. On one occasion, I published an article in my column “Hidden Truth” in Imo Trumpeta tagged “Rescue or let’s kill mission” where I mentioned how my life and that of Henry Ekpe together with other colleagues in the media who have in one way or the other criticized this administration have been under serious threat. There after I continued my crusade against Okorocha. After a while, I discovered that my telephone line was hacked for political reasons, and too many unknown callers cum strange faces were noticed around my house; all these made me know that my life together with my household was in danger”.
For the Trumpeta publishers comprising Gerry Ogu, Henry Ekpe and Kelechi Mejuobi, unknown persons and faceless gunmen have been monitoring their movements within their office and private homes in the state. The monitoring has forced the Trumpeta owners to go underground and operate from hideouts. In some of the cases, some suspected assassins driving in a dangerous manner blocked the vehicle of one of Trumpeta publishers before the journalist maneuvered his way to escape the men of the underworld while the believed hired killers also patrolled the street of one of the publishers in an ambush manner before alarm forced them to flee.
