Dangers Of Street Hawking

Sixteen-year-old Nwanneka Odah was quite healthy before her death.

She was a student of Nawfia Girls’ Secondary School in Nawfia, Anambra State, where she had just written her Junior Secondary School examinations.

Perhaps, if her parents had the inkling that their daughter might soon die, they would not have allowed her to leave Ebonyi State, her state of origin, to another state for her schooling.

Nwanneka was living with her uncle, Friday Ogalagu, who some years ago relocated to Umuriam village in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, to start a business.

While the girl was eagerly awaiting the release of her examination result, she engaged in street hawking, selling groundnut to support her uncle’s efforts to cater for the family.

However, on a fateful day — August 27, 2012, to be precise – Nwanneka was approached by three young men who pretended to be potential customers at a spot adjacent to Nawfia Comprehensive Secondary School.

According to an eyewitness, one of the three men, who looked like a madman, was standing beside her, while the other two were engrossed in a discussion by the roadside.

The eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, said that as Nwanneka bent down to scoop some groundnuts into a polythene bag for the “customer’’; the man standing by her brought out a sharp object and attempted to slash her neck.

“The object hit the girl’s head instead and she slumped. When a motorcyclist dashed to the scene to intervene, the three men speedily ran into the bush,’’ he recalled.

The eyewitness said that some Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) officials later ferried Nwanneka to the hospital but she died on the way.

Since then, controversies have trailed the circumstances which led to the girl’s death, as the community members want to ascertain whether the girl was actually killed by a madman or someone who just feigned madness.

However, the police say that they are still trying to unravel the mystery behind the girl’s killing.

Mr Raphael Uzoigwe, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Anambra, however, stressed that investigations into such cases were usually painstaking.

“In such a case of homicide, you hand over the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department of the police to get to the root of it.

“For now, the police cannot conclude that the person who killed the girl is actually a madman or not.

“If indeed, the person is truly mad, why should he run when he saw another person coming to the rescue of his prey?

“One still ponders on who the ‘madman’ really was and the actual motive of the two other men waiting by the roadside,’’ he said.

Uzoigwe reiterated that the police had initiated investigations into what actually happened, adding that the body of Nwanneka had been deposited at Amaku General Hospital, Awka, for autopsy.

In his reaction, Ogalagu, Nwanneka’s uncle, said: “The girl in question was my elder sister’s daughter and the third in a family of five.

“Nwanneka has been with me in Anambra for more than three years; even her elder sister lived with me before she got married.

“I was not there when the incident took place; I was at the police station to secure the release of my confiscated goods when I got a call from somebody that my niece had a fatal accident.

“I was later told that the person who killed my niece dressed like a madman; I was also informed that there were three men there and that the other two men were standing close to the bush when she wanted to sell the groundnuts.

“But I was told by some people in the area that when my niece bent down to sell groundnuts to the man, he pulled out an axe from his waist to cut her neck.

“They said that as Nwanneka tried to raise herself up, the weapon cut her face and she slumped; while a motorcyclist approached the scene to intervene.

“The people said that when the motorcyclist saw the girl struggling with somebody; he stopped to know the reasons behind the confrontation but the assailant ran away with the others standing nearby.

“They said that the FRSC officials later took Nwanneka to the hospital but she could not survive the attack,’’ Ogalagu said.

All the same, a middle-aged woman, who pleaded anonymity, alleged that rape and murder cases were rampant in Nawfia.

“Two days before this particular incident, a man was murdered behind a hotel, his head was cut off and taken away; only the body was found and the man could not be identified,’’ she said.

The traditional ruler of Nawfia, Chief Chijioke Nwankwo, stressed that that the masterminds of Nwanneka’s killing should not be allowed to go unpunished, whether they were from his community or not.

He said that he had directed the community members to report any person, suspected of any complicity in the crime, to the security agencies.

Nwankwo, however, conceded that concerted efforts were being made by the security agencies to rid the community of miscreants, warning that any person who partook in criminal activities would be apprehended and punished.

Although the police in Anambra State have given assurances that the killers of Nwanneka and other criminals in the area would soon be apprehended, observers insist that the handling of the Nwanneka case will be seen as a litmus test of the readiness of the police to curb crime in the state.

Mbachi writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Joy Mbachi

A man hawking Christmas tree in Abuja last Monday. Photo: NAN