Family of murdered Chinese-educated medical student demands justice

The family of a former medical student at Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China, Evaristus Tochukwu-Aligwe, is still grieving after alleged gunmen shot him dead in Enugu State on 7 May 2022.

Our correspondent gathered from family sources close to the incident that Tochuwku-Aligwe went out to buy groceries when he was killed.

The incident, it is learned, occurred at Four Corners Junction, Ozalla, Enugu State.

It has been established that the young medical student was shot four times in the chest before his car was stolen by the criminals.

An eyewitness identified only as Ndukwe said, "I operate an outlet near the crossroads and I was there in the store that Saturday when it happened. It was around 9:00 p.m. and I was tending to a customer when I heard gunshots from across the road.

"Me and others ran over there to see what was going on and saw a young man covered in a pool of his own blood on the ground. His car was taken by the gunmen and another man was screaming for help.

"After a few minutes, a tricycle driver offered to take him to Enugu Teaching Hospital, but we learned later that he was unsuccessful. He is died before we got there."

Another source who gave his name as Fabian Nnadi, said the young man had just returned to Enugu for an exchange program at UNTH, Enugu before his death.

"He was in China but COVID-19 forced him to come back. We were good friends and I knew we had a chat when he was going back to Enugu. I even advised him against it but he told me he wanted to know his roots. It wasn't even two years after his return that he was shot,” Nnadi said.

One ​​of the late student's sisters who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized by the family to speak on the matter, said the deceased was only 25 years old when he died.

"He was born on November 11, 1997. He studied at the University of Port Harcourt for about a year before being offered admission to China. He was studying pharmacy at UNIPORT but we (the family) didn't want that for him. He couldn't get medicine at UNIPORT, so he was sent abroad to study.

"It's sad for us as a family that after struggling to raise millions of naira to send my brother to school in China, they (armed men) waited until 'he graduated and ended his life," said my sister, sobbing.

Explaining why the victim returned to Nigeria, the sister said, "He had returned to Nigeria when the COVID happened. That was in 2020. The increase was significant in Asia, so many international students have been advised to return to their countries where they will be taught online next year.

"He did this until the end of the year before applying for the exchange program at UNTH, Enugu, alongside some of his colleagues. He chose UNTH because we are actually from Enugu state but not really close to our roots.

"I remember we talked about it and he said he just wanted to be close to his homeland, to be away for so long, to study in China."

She added that the deceased medical student moved to Enugu and rented a flat near busy Four Corners Junction, Ozalla, Enugu where he lived and was killed.

On how the family learned of the incident, they said: "It was one of the colleagues who called us and told us that our brother had been shot and that he was rushed to the hospital.

"I almost passed out. I didn't know what to do and didn't want anyone to panic. So I called my other sisters and they relayed the information to my parents. They (the parents) were so devastated that they demanded that we find out where he was so we could go see him.

"In fact, my mother had even fallen ill almost immediately. One can imagine sending a child to China to study medicine and when he is about to start his life, he is cut like a fickle flower! It's really sad."

She noted that the lady who called her told her that her brother had gone out with a friend, who was driving behind him when the gunmen attacked and only shot Evaristus.

“What we know as a family is that Évariste was out that day with his friend and they ended up buying food from a place in Enugu. It was as they were returning home that they were attacked by armed men. In fact, it was my brother who was attacked. The friend was driving behind him and he said he saw the gunmen in their car, trying to pass my brother's car.

"Evaristus' friend said he honked his horn to make my brother run away but he (Evaristus) wasn't fast enough. He couldn't run away. They (armed men) passed him, piled up right in front of his car, cajoled him and shot him four times in the chest. They came with...