THE families of the army couple killed in Imo State, Linus Audu and Gloria Matthew, have accused the Nigerian Army of neglect.
They are also demanding justice for the couple, who were reportedly abducted and beheaded by yet to be identified gunmen while traveling for their traditional marriage rites.
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Speaking on behalf of the families in a video posted on BBC Hausa Service, Gloria Nneka, the sister of Linus Audu, also appealed to the Nigerian Army to help recover the corpses of the couple and two other family members who were killed in the incident.
Gloria, who spoke in Hausa, confirmed that her brother, his wife, their father and younger brother were killed by suspected members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) in an ambush in Imo State.
“On May 1, my father, my younger brother, my elder brother, and his wife were travelling to the east to pay his wife’s dowry before IPOB stopped them on the road.
“My father is a retired soldier, and my younger brother Danladi Isah, they stopped them and killed them.
“They used the number of my brother’s wife to call us and sent us the video of the killings.
“Up till today, the Army has not said anything. Nobody has called us; nobody has visited us.
“Please, I beg, anyone who knows how this video can get to the Chief of Army Staff, I don’t have anybody, but I have God.
“Let them help us to get their corpse so we can bury them properly. It is justice we want,” Gloria said in the video.
The ICIR reported that Gloria and Audu were said to be on their way to “fulfil the traditional rites for their wedding in the company of Audu’s father, younger brother and Gloria’s 10-year old daughter” when they were attacked.
Reports say they were attacked by four armed persons at an area not far from Banana junction in Orlu, Imo State.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, in a statement issued on May 4, described the beheading of the soldiers as “barbaric” and “unacceptable”,
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, were unsuccessful.
He didn’t respond to phone calls and messages sent by The ICIR.
A reporter with the ICIR
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