Murdered Soldier-couple: Buhari Orders Military To Arrest Perpetrators

By Gideon Njoku

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted in shock to the blood-cuddling murder of a couple, both of the Nigerian Army, in Imo State. The couple was murdered on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

Describing the act as barbaric and sacrilegious, Buhari ordered the Military to quickly do everything possible to fish out the perpetrators of the abominable act.

Master Warrant Officer Audu Linus, was getting married to his junior colleague, an Imo daughter, Private Gloria Matthew, and the couple were on their way to perform the Traditional Marriage ceremony when they were ambushed and murdered in a most horrendous manner.

Private Matthew was brutally raped before her man, both of them were then shot dead,  their bodies desecrated, and finally beheaded. Their heads were placed on their badly tortured bodies. The whole sickening incident was videod and posted on social media platforms.

In a recorded voice discussion between one of the killers and a sister of Private Mathew, he gleefully told the lady they had killed the couple because soldiers were killing Igbo youths. They apparently called Matthew’s family using her phone.

Mourning the couple, the President in a statement signed on his behalf by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, expressed deep shock, and said that he joined Nigerians in mourning the couple and in strongly condemning the abominable act.

The President condemned the barbarism of the perpetrators of the incident and “similar acts of violence against law enforcement agents, described it as alien to all cultures and civilizations.”

Said the Statement: “The President has directed the Military authorities and other Security Agencies to do their utmost in apprehending the perpetrators of the barbaric  act.

He also called on community and regional leaders to “speak with one voice, to show that the entire country is one against this cruel and barbaric act of violence. This is unacceptable.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of this sad and tragic incident”.

In Igboland, it is an abomination to kill one’s in-law.

In a statement mourning the couple, the Army Spokesperson, Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu lamented that the terrorists, masquerading as unknown gunmen, could not even spare their own daughter. He put the blame on the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, and its militant wing, Eastern Security Network, ESN.

But a statement signed on behalf of IPOB by its Spokesperson, Emma Powerful, distanced IPOB/ESN from the barbaric act. Saying it cannot kill its own daughter, it put blame at the feet of State actors.

Private Mathews was from Nkwerre, Imo State. Neither the Imo Police Command, nor the State Government has issued a statement on the sacrilegious incident.