AFTER serving 31 years in the Nigeria Police Force, Clement Onwuegbuta, had slowly and painfully risen to the rank of an Inspector and was head of Surveillance Unit, Uwani Police Division, Enugu, till last Saturday.

On that day, as he walked home from work, Onwuegbuta was shot dead by his fellow police officers.

That fateful day, Onwuegbuta, who hailed from Umunwabiam, Akwukakabi in Etche Local Council of   Rivers State was walking home after work when bullets felled him pumped into his body by his own colleagues.  It was later gathered that Onwuegbuta’s journey to the great beyond started when some trigger-happy policemen attached to Ogui Police Station, Enugu, spotted him along the rail line bordering Ogui and Uwani Police Divisions.

The five policemen who were on patrol were said to have trailed the deceased after they sighted a pistol in his pocket.

Oblivious of the fact that he was one of their own; they went in hot pursuit after him.

Although Onwuegbuta was not given the opportunity to identify himself, his case has some similarity with that of the late Anthony Ukwa, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, who, two years ago, was murdered in cold blood in Enugu on his way home, also by police men like himself.

In that incident, Ukwa was said to have shouted severally that he was not an armed robber when the bullets hit him, but that could not stop the 10 trigger-happy policemen who shot him dead.

Accounts have it that Onwuegbuta, at first, did not realize    he was being trailed and kept moving casually like any other person returning home from night duty.

It was not until he reached a spot around the New Layout, when he heard some gunshots that he decided to take to his heels.

But he did not run far as he was felled by the bullets fired by the policemen.

His killers were said to have immediately rushed to the dead man lying in the pool of his own blood and conducted a search.

They reportedly discovered a police identity card bearing the name of Inspector Clement Onwuegbuta and a police service pistol.

Eyewitnesses said the policemen abandoned his bleeding  body and vanished into thin air after they discovered that he was one of their own.

Another source said the body of the deceased officer had lain for quite a while on the turf at the Edinburgh Roundabout, as residents began to gather to discuss the development.

Another police team was said to have arrived at about 9.30a.m. and whisked the body away.

It was gathered that passersby who witnessed the gruesome murder of the policeman popularly known as Chifoo, would have lynched the police officers if they had not swiftly disappeared from the scene.

An eyewitness said: “ Initially, we thought they were chasing a criminal but the policemen pursed him from   Aku Street and finally killed him at Edinburgh Road.
“Everybody knows the man, he goes home every day through Aku Street to his Asata residence.

This is unfair, the policemen were many. Since they noticed that the man had a gun on him, the best thing would not have been to kill him, but to disarm him and ascertain his identity”.

Another eyewitness told The Guardian: “ The man was shouting ‘My wife! My wife! But his shouting could not convince the policemen that he was a responsible man.”

When The Guardian visited the apartment of the deceased at No. 77, Asata Street, Enugu, his widow, Amaka, amid tears regretted that her husband, whom she said could not stay for one hour without calling her on phone, was killed by his own colleagues.

The widow, who works in the Federal Ministry of Education, said she was surprised when her husband, who used to come back immediately after work, was nowhere to be seen even after 5.00a.m. the next morning.

She disclosed that she was awake with their only seven- year- old son till about 5.00a.m., hoping her husband would come home, but to no avail.

She said she went to Uwani Police Station that morning to inquire and was told that her husband was posted to the “Incident Unit at the headquarters of the Enugu State Police Command.

“I began to call his number again, only to discover, to my greatest surprise, that the phone which rang without response all through the night, could no longer be reached”.

She then decided to go to the Police Headquarters where she was told that her husband’s name was not on the duty roaster, a development that made her return to Uwani Police Station.
The widow disclosed further that she nearly fainted when somebody broke the news of her husband’s death.

Amid tears, Amaka is now calling on the police authorities to bring her husband’s killers to book, saying the deceased joined the police with Testimonial Certificate at a very tender age.

“I have been rendered a widow by people in the same profession with the man that has given us life.

“How do I cope, who do I run to? It is sad that nobody could inquire of the identity of anybody before releasing gunshots at the person. It is sad,” she wept.

Meanwhile, The Guardian has learnt that the remains of the late Inspector had been deposited at the Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre, Enugu morgue for autopsy while the men alleged to shoot him have been arrested and detained.

The state Commissioner of Police, Danazumi Job Doma, described the incident as unfortunate and warned that it was high time officers and men of police stopped avoidable deaths, which are blamed on mistaken identity.

He disclosed that he was expecting the report of the investigation as quickly as possible and enjoined his operatives not to be demoralised by the unfortunate incident.

A statement signed by the State Police Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu said  “the deceased, Clement Onwueguta, had met his untimely death on that fateful day along the rail line bordering Ogui Division and Uwani Division earlier on labeled as black spot because of the wide range of crime and criminality being perpetrated there, as unknown to him that the people trying to halt him from a distance were security operatives from Ogui Division on surveillance of the black spot.

“Hence, he took to his heels and eventually, was pursued and in the course of the pursuit, a gunshot was allegedly heard, which felled the deceased.”

He revealed that the late Inspector Onwuegbuta was a dedicated officer.

It would be recalled Anthony Ukwa, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, was two years ago murdered in cold blood in Enugu on his way home, after attending a meeting of the Knights of the Catholic Church, by policemen attached to Independence Layout Division.

The 10 policemen, who are now remanded in prison custody awaiting trial, allegedly shot him even as he was shouting that he was an officer attached to the Armory Section.

Posted by admin on Feb 28 2012. Filed under Enugu, Nigerian Police, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry