Gunmen kill nursing mother in Bauchi

There was pandemonium and wailing, Monday night, in the Igbo community in Bauchi State following the murder of a popular business woman by gunmen.
The deceased, Mrs Loricia Onukwu, who was nursing a two months old baby, was shot dead by gunmen in front of her house at Fadama Mada area in Bauchi metropolis.
It was gathered that the gunmen, who were two in number, accosted Loricia, a nursing mother of four just as she arrived her house after closing from her business located in the area as a hybrid dealer at about 7 pm on Monday evening and horned for her children to open the gate.
Her second son, 10 year old Makochwuwku, had just opened the gate for his mother to drive her Opel car inside the compound when he saw two men carrying gun walking towards his mother’s car. They shot her twice through the windscreen and made way with her handbag after demanding for money.
The husband who has since relocated his family including his two months old baby to GRA in Bauchi, could not be reached at the time of sending this report as he was said to have gone to the Tafawa Balewa Housing Police Station with his son Makochuwku.
“The husband Leo was not at home. He went to church. They were shouting ‘where is the money, where is the money’ before they shot her at close range,” one of the women leader in Loricia’s church who pleaded anonymity said.
She described Loricia, an indigene of Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State as a very friendly and clam woman who “loved everybody, always cracking jokes, always happy . If you are upset and you meet her, you will become happy. I don’t know why anyone would kill such person. I have never heard of a woman being killed like that. Loricia never told us she had problem with anyone. It is simply painful and a mystery”
She said that the deceased was planning to dedicate her baby on Novermber 9 but all her plans and dreams have been cut short.
The Christain woman leader explained: “We fixed second Sunday of November for the dedication at Our KLady of Loreto Caothlic Church Fadama Mada parish and she was excited about it. She talked about it all the time as we almost concluded arrangements the dedication of her baby. She called me to inform me that she had booked for the reception at Chaba Hotel and we made arrangement for coking only to hear news that she was killed. It is sad”
An Igbo leader in state who also pleaded anonymity decried the killing of Loricia saying her brutal death has thrown her family and the Igbo community to great mourning .”Her death brings to four the number of Igbos killed in Bauchi. Her own is sad because she is a woman. We implore the police to bring the killers to books”
When contacted , the Spokesman of the police command in Bauchi State DSP Mohammed, told our reporter that he heard about the incident but has little details. He promised to give more detail about the killing as soon as he get them.