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The remains of
Obinna Micheal Okpokiri, one of the youth corps members who was
murdered in Bauchi State by rioters during the post elections protests
in the north was committed to mother earth in Umuahia, the state
capital on Wednesday.

Mr Okpokiri was
born on January 1, 1983 to the Okpokiri family of Emede Mkpuru in
Umuahia North Local Government. His corpse was received by Governor
Theodore Orji at the Michael Okpara Auditorium where a funeral service
attended by many people including the wife of the governor, Mercy Orji
and youth corps members serving in the state was held for him.

Mr Orji said the
deceased was a martyr and a hero having died in the service of his
fatherland, and that his death would cement the unity of the country
even as he called for restraint on those who might want to embark on
reprisal attack.

He said that time
has come for Nigerians to show maturity and use the judiciary to seek
redress when offended rather than resort to barbaric acts even as he
warned elites against using youth to settle political scores.

Tears of sorrow

At the grave side
at the Okpokiri’s compound, the deceased’s father who could not hold
back his tears said that when he was sending off his son to serve the
nation he did not expect him to be killed by those he had gone to serve.

He said the NYSC
should not be scrapped based on the actions of some misguided elements
in the country that are bent on destroying the unity of the nation,
however, called for proper investigation and trial of those who
perpetrated the dastardly act.

“We have no doubt
in our minds that those responsible for what happened to Obinna and his
colleagues will not go unpunished. As your mother and I mourn your
untimely death, we are not unmindful of the biblical injunction in 1
Thessalonians 4:13 in the Bible that, we should not sorrow much as
those who have no hope.” Kingsley Okpokiri, the deceased’s younger
brother said: “It is a pity that my brother who went to serve our
father land was murdered under such unfortunate circumstance.” Obinna
Okpokiri graduated from Abia State University Uturu in 2010 from the
department of Environmental Science before he was posted to serve in
Bauchi State in November last year where he was murdered on April 20.