A cult member, Emmanuel Victor, who was seen in a video allegedly shooting a final-year student of Abia State University Uturu (ABSU), Emmanuel Uche, is pleading for a second chance.
Victor, a 500-level Optometry student of the same institution, confessed to the crime when he was paraded alongside 110 other suspects at the Abia State Police Headquarters in Umuahia on Sunday.
Spokesperson of the command, ASP Maureen Chinaka, said a team of police detectives from Abia State Police Command, acting on credible intelligence, apprehended the principal suspect at Isiukwuato.
Speaking to newsmen, the suspect claimed that the deceased, Uche, was a member of a rival cult group
“I am here because I committed murder. I actually killed Emmanuel Uche. He is from Mbaitolu in Imo State and based in Port Harcourt,” he said.
"I am a student of Abia State University, Uturu and studying Optometry, level 500. I killed him. He is a member of another cult group that came to pick up a phone from us.
"After we finished talking, we told them that they should come back later in the day to pick up the phone. One of Emmanuel’s members, that is the one I shot at, escalated and then I shot him in the leg.
“I do regret the action. A day before that day, they came looking for one of my members. That night, my member was walking around their lodge and saw one of them. Then he took the phone from them and brought it to his own lodge. The next day, when they came back to take their phone, the thing happened."
He pleaded for a second chance, claiming that this was his first time killing somebody.