Gunmen on Monday invaded the residence of Professor Godswill Obioma, strangling him in what his wife suspected to be an assassination, People’s Gazette reported.
“The assassins came in and killed him and left without taking anything,” Elizabeth Obioma told Peoples Gazette by telephone on Tuesday morning.
Weeping profusely, Mrs Obioma said her husband had just returned to Minna from a trip to Abuja when the armed men, lurking in his compound, descended on him and strangled him.
A police spokesman did not immediately return a request seeking comments about the development.
Mr Obioma has been facing attempts to remove him from office as the head of NECO, a prominent examination body run by the Nigerian government.
Mr Obioma, 67, was appointed head of NECO barely a year ago on May 14, 2020. He hailed from Abia in Nigeria’s Igbo-dominated South-East region.
The incident came barely a day after Ahmed Gulak, a top politician of the ruling APC, was gunned down in Owerri, raising widespread fears of insecurity.
However, police in Niger have said that the late NECO registrar Prof. Godswill Obioma was not murdered in Minna.
“This story is totally false, untrue and a pure element of fake news circulating in some section of the social media and national dailies that NECO Registrar, Prof. Godswill Obioma, was murdered by unknown gunmen in Minna,” the Command’s spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is important to state categorically that on May 31, the Registrar/CEO National Examinations Council (NECO), Prof. Godswill Obioma, was rushed to National Hospital, Abuja, by his family members where he was later confirmed dead, after a brief illness.
“However, the family of the deceased has also confirmed the incident and formally notified the management and staff of NECO of the demise of the registrar.”
He added, “Members of the public are hereby urged to disregard the fake news while news reporters are advised to always verify their report before publication to avoid creating unnecessary panic and fear in public domain.”
