An amateur Nigerian footballer is the latest victim of the insistent killings in South Africa.
Emeka Kenneth Okafor, 35, was allegedly murdered in his home in Cape Town, Sunday, by a three-man notorious gang known as INTA.
Okafor, a native of Awkuzu in Anambra State, made his sojourn to the Rainbow nation with the hope of earning a lucrative contract with a local side after several failed attempts in his home country.
However, it turned out that his dream would be abruptly cut short after meeting his untimely death even before securing a deal with any South African side.
This was reportedly engineered by his neighbour who took offence after Okafor’s Nigerian friends mistakenly brushed his car.
“My brother left the shores of our land for South Africa last year after several failed attempts to succeed in life,” Ifeanyi Okafor, elder brother to the deceased told Vanguard.
“Last Sunday night, I received a telephone call from one Chinedu from Nteje who resides in South Africa.
“He was weeping profusely when he told me that my younger brother, Emeka, had been killed.
“When I asked him what happened, he said he and other Nigerian boys were in Emeka’s house that Sunday and after lunch, one of his friends from Enugu State left and while driving out of the premises, his car scratched that of a South African neighbour.”
Ifeanyi, who himself is a football coach based in Abuja added: “The South African went wild with anger. Emeka intervened and pleaded with his neighbour but to no avail.
“Soon after, his South African neighbour left in his car, then returned later with three members of the notorious South African gang called ‘INTA’ and began a search for the Enugu boy that brushed the car.
“When they were told that he had gone, they searched for Emeka and as soon as they saw him, shot him point blank in the head. He died on the spot.
“As soon as they saw that he was dead, they fled with the man that hired them. Later that night, policemen came and removed Emeka’s corpse.”
