* A younger brother allegedly hacked his elder sibling to death with a cutlass over accusations of witchcraft blocking his prosperity.
* The older brother died despite desperate attempts to save him.
* Police and the local community hunt the suspect, who remains at large.
Inside Umunwacha, Ofeh community, Omuma Local Government Area of Rivers State, blood ties shattered in a moment of rage on Thursday, February 12, 2026 when Mr. Nwalozie Chiwendu, a middle-aged man consumed by suspicion, turned a cutlass on his elder brother, Chidiebere Isaiah, accusing him of using witchcraft to sabotage his business and life progress.
Residents recounted how Chiwendu struck repeatedly, inflicting deep machete wounds across Chidiebere's body.
The elder brother, butchered like meat according to witnesses, was rushed to a nearby hospital by frantic neighbors.
He was rejected at the first facility and died en route to another, his life slipping away before help could arrive.
Chinonso Favour Chima, the Youth President of Ofeh community, received the devastating call that evening.
“Yesterday within the evening hours, I got a call from some of my community persons telling me of the sad incident that happened between two brothers of the same compound,” he said.
“I cannot tell what happened, but the story is that the younger one carried cutlass and butchered his elder brother like meat and ran away, before the persons that were around in the community could come.”
Chima raced back to coordinate efforts.
"So, after I received the call, I directed them to quickly rush him to the hospital and I was running down from town to see how we can attend to the matter.
"On my way, they took him to the first hospital, but they could not attend to him, before they could reach another hospital, the man gave up.
“Because it is a murder case, I told them we cannot deposit him in the mortuary just like that. We then reported it to the nearest Police Division within us here, notifying them of what happened and Police have taken note of it.”
The community refused to let fear paralyze them.
“The boy that committed the crime is on the run, we are looking for him. Community has declared a search for him everywhere. We are searching for him to get him so that he can face the full wrath of the law,” Chima declared.
He urged calm against vigilante justice, “But for now, we have deposited the deceased in the mortuary. I have also tried to address the community and ask everybody to stay calm, we should not take laws into our hands.
'Let us not cause more panic in the community, we are still talking with critical stakeholders of the community. For now, everything is calm.”
The Rivers State Police Command swiftly responded.
CSP Grace Iringe-Koko, the spokesperson, confirmed, “Information at my disposal indicates that the suspect used cutlass to machete the victim to death after accusing him (victim) of witchcraft that made him (suspect) not to prosper.”
She added, “The corpse has been retrieved, deposited in the Mortuary and a manhunt has been launched for the suspect with a view to arresting and bringing him to face the law in compliance to the directive of Commissioner of Police, CP Olugbenga Adepoju."
The incident was reported to the Eberi Police Division.
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