From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
It was weekend of blood and mourning in Abia State with five people dead in different auto crashes and an armed robbery attack in Aba and its surroundings.
On Friday evening, at about 8:30, a three-man gang of armed robbers had shot and killed a cement dealer whose name was given as Matthew Amaiheuno at Obingwu in Ukwa West Local Government Area.
Amaiheuno, a native of Mbieri in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, was said to be heading home with his wife and daughter after the day’s business when on getting within a few metres of his house they were accosted by a three-man armed robbery gang.
The gang, operating on motorcycle, reportedly attempted to collect a bag containing an undisclosed amount of money from Matthew, who resisted them.
In an attempt to have their way, the hoodlums shot and killed the businessman instantly, making away with the bag containing the said money.
In other deadly but unrelated incidents, four people were killed on Saturday in two different road accidents along the newly rebuilt Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
The first occurred at the Osisioma, Aba axis of the Expressway when a moving vehicle rammed into two men on a commercial motorcycle.
An eyewitness said the two men died instantly when the vehicle hit the motorcycle they were travelling with.
The second accident, which also claimed the lives of two young men, occurred at about 3:30 pm close to Arungwa Junction on the same stretch of the Expressway.
The two men were riding on a motorbike on the Expressway when a Toyota Camry Car coming from behind hit them and they died instantly.
When Daily Sun visited the scene of the accident, no Road Safety personnel or policemen were on hand, however, sympathizers who milled around made frantic efforts to contact relatives of the deceased.