Disturbing Picture: Pregnant wife, mother of man murdered by cop beg police – Please give us Onyeka’s corpse for burial

Posted by admin Headlines, Nigerian Police Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

• Late Onyeka
Photo: THE SUN PUBLISHING

The sudden death of Mr. Onyeka Agupugo, a brick layer and mason, who was allegedly killed by a trigger-happy policeman last Saturday has left the family devastated. More devastating is that the corpse of the murdered man has been deposited at an unknown mortuary by the police.

For 67-year-old Madam Florence Agupugo, Onyeka’s mum, the cruel hands of death have snatched the brightest star in her brood of five. Still not believing the sad news, the widow is still waiting for her favourite son to come back home from Nwagu junction.

The slain Onyeka was the third son and fourth child of a family of five. He had boarded a bike, otherwise known as okada, to Nwagu junction where a policeman allegedly flagged down the operator and demanded for the customary N20 ‘settlement’. Onyeka was said to be mediating between the okada operator and the policeman when another cop at the scene allegedly got angry and shot the young man four times at close range.

According to Mrs. Blessing Okoye, Onyeka’s immediate elder sister, the deceased had, after taking his bath, prepared to go back to his station at Ekwulobia and had only gone out to pick up a few items when tragedy struck. “My younger brother had earlier called me on Friday to alert me of our mother’s sickness. I hurriedly collected some things and rushed down to the village from Onitsha where I live with my family. That was the last opportunity I had to chat with my brother face to face. I later called him that night to inform him that I arrived back safely. How could I have known that he was saying goodbye?

“Look at my poor mother. Ever since her husband died in 2004, she had never been the same. She is still in shock as Onyeka had been her favourite and the one trying so hard to bring her out of this house with its leaking roof. That is why he became a mason despite the fact that he learnt electrical works after dropping out of school at JSS 3.

“It was as if he knew he would die prematurely; that was why he insisted on marrying early, in spite of his poverty. Who will complete this house now? Who will sit and comfort my mother? Who will take care of his young wife and her pregnancy,” she queried as she broke down in tears. She implored Governor Peter Obi to come to the family’s aid by helping to complete the house their brother started since their main hope had been dashed. She noted that their present house might one day cave in on their hapless mother.

Onyeka, who was 27 years old, hailed from Okpu-Ifite village, Agulu, in Aniocha Local Government area of Anambra State. He had earlier on that fateful day informed his mother of his intention to pick up a few provisions for the old woman and his wife, who is five months pregnant. Nwagu junction, where he was headed, is a stone’s throw from his father’s compound. He had planned to thereafter return to Ekwulobia town, a few kilometers away, where he resided with his young wife of 10 months.

But Onyeka, who had fixed his white wedding with his wife, Chinenye for December this year, could not accomplish his promises as he was gunned down by the trigger-happy cop. Our correspondent arrived at the scene 30 minutes after the young man died. An eyewitness said one of the police officers stopped the victim and the motorbike operator, demanding for money. He said all Onyeka did was to try and mediate between the two.
The okada operator was the first to be hit with the butt of a police gun, leaving him with a deep, bloody gash on the head.

Mr. Shedrack Ifedugbo, a cousin and friend of the deceased, said Onyeka had turned to leave the scene after his futile attempts at brokering peace when a sergeant standing nearby shot the defenceless man four times in the head. Hear him: “Onyeka was my brother and best friend. We ate together at my shop the day before, and he even called me that afternoon to chat with me. He was a good guy, and I was shocked when I saw what happened to him. He was not a bad boy. Since this incident happened few days ago, I’ve not been myself. I’m dumbfounded; I’ve been in tears.

“He was just mediating between the bike man and the police, who were arguing over N20. He was begging them to leave the guy, not to extort money from him. So, in the process, they shot him at the back of the head. That is what we see at this junction everyday. And at night, they take our young men and lock them up. We want the government to dismantle these road blocks.” Another member of the family, Mrs. Adeline Alichukwu, popularly known as Anulika, said it was the deceased’s love for peace that cost him his life.

“He could have walked away when he saw what they did to the okada man, but no, he stayed back to beg, despite the fact that he had a fairly long journey to make, and dusk was fast approaching. When I saw his corpse lying there, I couldn’t help but grieve,” she sobbed. She extolled the leadership qualities exhibited by Onyeka, even among his elder siblings, describing him as intelligent, intuitive and the pillar of the family.

Daily Sun gathered that the trigger-happy policeman and his squad made no attempt to rush the victim to any hospital, as they ran away in their patrol vehicle in order to avoid the wrath of the youths of the area. This irked the youths the more. They quickly mobilized themselves and wreaked mayhem on a nearby police station. Before long, heavy smoke was billowing in the sky, as the fierce-looking, hefty youths set up blockades and made bonfires. Chanting war songs, they launched an attack at the police station.

This reporter learnt that it took the personal intervention of the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Murtari Ibrahim, before normalcy was restored in the area. The policemen later took the corpse away to an undisclosed location. This development has become a source of distress to the bereaved family as they wondered what the police wanted to do with the corpse. Chinenye Agupugo, the 24-year-old, heavily pregnant widow of the deceased, appealed to the police to allow her to see her husband.

“They have killed my husband because of N20; now they equally want to seize his corpse. What are they going to do with it? Let them give it to us. Let me see my husband,” she wailed. When contacted, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka, said that the body of the victim was deposited at the mortuary. He said the family was free to claim it at anytime.

He informed the reporter that the police officer who, he said, was serving at the operations department of the State Command, had been arrested and was being detained. “The policeman will be tried departmentally and dismissed, after which he will be charged to court. I want you to know that there is no justification for the murder of an innocent person.

The Nigerian police do not condone such, whether he’s from the North or the South.
“These people were sent over to beef up security in the area when some prominent Agulu people, who came back from a meeting last week, were kidnapped. What happened was regrettable and reprehensible, and we sincerely apologize to the family and the entire community. We promise that necessary measures will be subsequently put in place to ensure that this type of situation does not repeat itself in the future,” he promised.wp_posts