Anambra family heads to court over death of son at Awkuzu Police Station

By Our Correspondent

The family of Obiorah of Enugwu -Aguleri in Anambra East local government area of Anambra State has dragged the Nigeria Police to court following the suspected killing of its son, Ebuka Obiorah, at the Awkuzu Police Station.

The Obiorah family said a lawyer has already been briefed because, according to a family source, it was one death too difficult to bear

Awkuzu Police Station, formerly headquarters of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, appears to be fast regaining its unenviable status as one of the most dreaded police stations in the country following the recent happenings there.

Recently, the late Ebuka went to his village from his base at 3-3, Onitsha and never returned alive, only for the police to boldly tell his brother that he had died.

According to his brother, Maduka Obiorah, Ebuka was a victim of error arrest, which was why the family has decided to go to court to seek justice.

He said the family did not even know that Ebuka was in detention at Otuocha police station until a friend who was released from the station informed his family.

Narrating the pathetic story, Maduka Obiorah said: “I saw my brother healthy at Awkuzu Police Station and 24 hours later, police said he died inside the cell.

“My brother was initially detained at Otuocha Police Station for four days after which they transferred him to SARS Awkuzu. I went to see him on Friday with a lawyer, but couldn’t secure his bail and I repeated on Saturday. When I went to see him on Sunday, he was dead.”

According to Maduka, “Ebuka was living at 3.3 Onitsha and he informed me that he would come home to perform some family ceremonies, being the eldest of six children and having lost our father in 2014.
“After his visit to the village, he later went to his in-laws’ place and told me he would spend the night there from where he would return to his base.

“For three days there was no communication and we thought that he was already in Onitsha, not knowing that he was framed up and detained at Otuocha police station following a mistaken identity.

“It was later that one of his friend who was detained by the police at Otuocha came to inform us that Ebuka was being detained and that he did not commit any offence.

“That his friend told me that my brother pleaded with the police to allow him make a phone call to inform his family that he was being detained, but the police refused. His phone got missing immediately he was arrested and that phone has been off ever since”.

He continued: “We met one police officer at Otuocha who said I should meet one Inspector who is the IPO. The officer told me that my brother had been granted bail at Otuocha and I did not know how he ended up at Awkuzu Police Station.

“I saw my brother on Saturday and I don’t know what they used to break his right leg. One police officer at SARS told me that we could bail my brother since it was an error arrest. At Awkuzu, the police told me that it was people from our community that gave them the name of my brother.

“The police told me to meet our former PG who told me that he did not want to get involved. It was during a meeting of PGs at Aguleri that I was told that the suspect the police was looking for in connection with the murder in question, was another Obiorah from another village.

“My brother was arrested in his house. The DPO told me that the person they were looking for is Obiorah Mighty and not Ebuka Oboirah and that it was an informant that mistakenly pointed at my brother.

“It was unfortunate that my brother died for an offence he did not commit”.

He said his family was advised to get a lawyer to grant his brother bail since he was not among those declared wanted in connection with the beheading of someone over the land matter, adding that the process for his bail had commenced only to be told that he had died.

He said the problem started sometime in July this year when a land case led to someone allegedly killed and beheaded.