In an incident eerily reminiscent of the Aluu Community killing in Rivers state where four students of the University of Port Harcourt were gruesomely murdered in cold blood, suspected members of vigilante group, Nigeria Police attached to Badagry Police Division have been accused of killing 25-year-old Ifechukwude Gabriel Nwainokpor, a graduate of Geology and Mining at the Delta State University, Abraka and his friend simply known as Kazeem.
Ify, as he was fondly called is a native of Onicha-Ugbo, Aniocha North of Delta State was lynched to death together with his friend in Ajara area of Badagry at 3pm on July 21 in the full glare of the policemen at the Badagry Division, an eight minute video of the gruesome killing was made and posted on YouTube.
The family of the deceased has called on the Lagos police command to investigate the killings thoroughly without sparing anyone.
The Guardian reports:
Just like the Aluu Port Harcourt incident, the duo of Ifechukwude and Kazeem were returning from a friend’s house when they were accosted by the group of vigilante men who tagged them suspects and took them to the home of their leader, one Dele Asiribo.
Asiribo was said to have handcuffed them immediately having threatened them with a locally made shotgun. It was said that while he was trying to return the gun to his pouch, it triggered and blew him up. He died instantly.
Out of anger, the youths allegedly descended on the two friends and sent them to their early grave.
Clearly taken over by emotions, Ifechukwude’s father narrated how his son was gruesomely killed by the mob and the alleged role of the police in the incident.
Read the Guardian report further;
According to his father, Samuel, who spoke to The Guardian amidst tears: “Ifechukwude is my first son. He was born on 5th September 1988. He is a graduate of Geology and Mining from Delta State University, Abraka. We live in Badagry, he was born in Badagry. Since he was at home waiting for his National Youth Service Corp, we decided he should go through tutelage under a friend of mine who a is freight forwarder in Apapa. That he has been doing.”
“On May 2, 2013, he saw me off to the airport to Accra, just last Monday, July 21, I was informed by my in-law in Delta State about the incident. I took the next available flight from Ghana,” he said.
Narrating the story, he continued: “The story I was told was that a freight forwarder friend invited him and his friend to their house. As they were returning, some people accosted them and said their faces are strange and immediately tagged them suspects. My child and his friend started arguing, asking why they should be referred to as suspects. They took him to the house of one man whom they called the head of the vigilante group in that area.”
“He came out from his house with a locally made hand-gun and a hand-cuff. It was the gun he used to intimidate them and handcuffed them. In an attempt to return his locally made gun to his pouch, it triggered and blew him up; he died instantly. Immediately he died, the youths suspected to be members of the vigilante group mobbed my son and his friend in the glaring view of policemen and they died.”
“The video of the atrocity is on You Tube. My son was wailing and begging that they are innocent. Police took their bodies and called them armed robbers. The Divisional Police Officer, (DPO), Mr. Dankoli Mohammed told us that he was not around when the incident happened. He informed us that his lieutenants told him that they have shot two armed robbers in the area. He said the father of my son’s friend came to him (DPO) and urged the police to give him his son’s body, and they quickly released it to him for burial without autopsy after such heinous crime had been committed.”
“The DPO even insisted that it was a case of armed robbery until the video was played for him. After watching the video, he knew the bubble had busted and told us that the matter was now beyond him. He immediately took us to the office of the Area Commander. The Area Commander felt very bad after watching the video. He urged him to go to the scene and invite all the suspects involved.”
“My second son was in coma for two days after he saw his brothers’ dead body. It took the intervention of Doctors to revive him. My request from the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police is to ensure that justice is done on this matter. I cannot get my son back, the only thing I want now is justice and it must not elude us. The matter is already on the Internet and the police should do the right thing and deliver justice to us. I have only two sons and I cannot be alive to see this happen to me and my family.”
The Lagos State Police Command, however, has swung into action over the matter. The Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Umaru Manka has ordered the State Criminal Investigation Department to unearth the mystery behind the killings.
The family of the victims expect the suspects who took part in the barbaric act to be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law as only this can put closure to the grief of losing a dear one.
