Founder of the Africa Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, who recently clocked 50 on March 30th, has promised to immortalise her late bro
Founder of the Africa Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, who recently clocked 50 on March 30th, has promised to immortalise her late brother, Michael, who was shot dead by suspected armed robbers. Recounting the incident that led to his untimely demise, the filmmaker said that on November 29, 2014, her brothers left home, travelling by road, all the way to Nkwere in Imo State, to be precise to attend one of her uncle’s funerals.
“On their way home, between Benin and Ore, armed robbers supposedly attacked motorists and were shooting at oncoming vehicles. On that trip were four of my brothers, two of their wives, the driver, and the security personnel. Apparently, they ran into the bush as advised by the security personnel with them, waiting for the road to be cleared. A couple of hours later, around 12 noon, it was announced that the road was clear, that they could come out of the bush where they were hiding with other travelers to continue their journey again.
“They all came out, and as they were going to enter their vehicles, a lone gunman came out from the blues and started shouting that he would shoot all of them. It was a terrible moment as my other brothers and Michael were caught up in that web. The lone gunman shot Michael and moved away. The strange thing was that the gunman didn’t take anything. My older brother, Anthon who was at the scene carried Michael, who was already drenched with his own blood and started running, looking for the nearest hospital or anywhere he could get emergency medical care. Sadly, non was in sight. Anthony could still feel a bit of Michael’s pulse. Accident and emergency hospital along that axis could have made a difference. There was no ambulance. There was no emergency/trauma centre on that road. By the time my brothers got to the nearest hospital, it was too late. He died.”
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe however, said that she will be using this opportunity to do a couple of things that I know that he would be proud of if he was here.
“As a way to immortalize my brother, I will be organizing a conference as part of the activities to celebrate my birthday, around the 25th and 26th of May. The most important feature of this will be fund raising to raise Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for one mobile clinic along Benin-Ore Expressway, and exactly around the location where my brother was shot and also, if it’s possible, to get a second one, to be in the village where he came from.”
