By Steve Oko, Umuahia
Moved by the plights of the three orphans of the slain Ebonyi business couple in Umuahia, a Non – Governmental Organisation,
African Centre for Human Advancement & Research Support, has advocated the establishment of an endowment fund for their education and up-keep.
Recall that Mr. Darlington Uzoma and wife, Chinyere , Umuahia -based egg merchants were shot dead by robbers on Saturday, January 25, along Secretariat Road near the Broadcasting Corporation of Abia, BCA.
The victims, indigenes of Ugwuegu community in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State were killed in the presence of their three children who they conveyed in their family car before the ugly incident .
One of the killers was suspected to have been identified by the victims, hence the decision by the robbers to kill them off before fleeing the scene.
The six-man gang of dare -devil robbers was later arrested by the police after about two hours they committed the heinous crime.
Meanwhile the NGO has commended the heinous crime as well as other pockets of criminality in some parts of the state.
The Executive Director of the NGO, Mr. Biachi Chidi – Nwosu, in a press statement, called on both Abia and Ebonyi State Governments to set up a joint endowment fund for the support of the children of the victims who are still in school.
While the victims’ first daughter and son are in secondary school, their third child is still in primary school.
The NGO particularly appealed to the First Ladies of both states “to go beyond sympathy and show empathy” to the victims’ family.
” We passionately appeal to Abia and Ebonyi State Governments to give succour to the innocent children and orphans of the victims.
” Government should take a practical step to meaningfully identify with the family by providing for the up-keep and education of the children.
“There can be no better way of honouring the victims in view of their wonderful contributions to the development of society than to ensure that the destiny of their children is not abruptly shattered by their untimely exit “, the statement said.
The statement also appealed to public-spirited individuals to come to the aid of the family “to enable them recover quickly from the trauma of the horrible incident of witnessing the gruesome killing of their parents by callous elements “.
