- My husband was murdered-Widow
- He drove himself to the station, slumped during interrogation-Police
- It was an act of God-Victim’s boss
- Nothing will be swept under the carpet – IG
BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
The dust raised by last Wednesday’s death of Ogar Jumbo Ochigbo, an Assistant Superintendent of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Nyanya, Abuja, may not settle soon, regardless of entreaties by the acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to the bereaved family and community to be calm.
This is because, despite the pledge by the IG to make sure that nothing is swept under the carpet, there is no agreement on the actual cause of Ochigbo’s death
While the deceased officer’s widow, Mrs. Ada Ochigbo, maintained that her husband’s death was brazen murder and some family members fingered the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Nyanya Division, Mr. Igbekele Ogungbemi, as an ‘accomplice’ in the tragic event, Mr. Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, said, matter-of-factly, that the deceased actually drove himself to the police station and slumped during interrogation.
Assistant Superintendent Ochigbo died, Wednesday, last week, in a controversial circumstance after he was reportedly flagged down by the police for alleged violation of traffic rules at Nyanya, Abuja. And reports claimed that two police officers dragged him out of the vehicle and beat him black and blue with their batons.
It was not clear whether the late NSCDC officer died on the spot or at the Nyanya police station where they said he slumped while answering “preliminary questions” on the alleged violation. But Ochigbo’s wife and two children were said to be in the car at the time of the tragic event.
The FCT Police Command, however, acted swiftly and took two officers suspected of the crime into custody.
The Commissioner of Police in the FCT, Mr Bala Ciroma, confirmed the arrest and detention of the officers as he assured that diligent investigation was under way to unveil the real cause of the tragedy.
According to Ciroma, “There was a fracas between the senior officer and the policemen. We have commenced investigation and we will not know what really happened until after the investigation.”
THE WISDOW’S STORY
Tears flowed freely at the home of the dead NSCDC officer as his widow, Mrs. Ada Ochigbo, recalled the event that has suddenly turned her once happy life to a void and a huge cloud of misery.
She said she pleaded with the officers as they beat her husband. And by the time they decided to take the man to the station, he was already weak. And when the matter was taken to the station, the DPO refused to allow the deceased get the treatment he urgently needed.
“At the police station,” Mrs. Ochigbo continued, “I began calling my husband’s friends, telling them that my husband was lying down, lifeless. The DPO said: ‘Who is lifeless? The man is pretending!’ I begged the DPO and his men at the station to please let my husband go to the hospital but they refused.
“They left my husband to die. When they finally agreed to take him to the hospital, they said there was no fuel in their patrol vehicle. I remained there with my children. It was when I started crying that they agreed to take my husband to the hospital. But by then, he had died. They killed my husband.
“They killed my husband. They (the two police officers) dragged my husband. If you see my husband’s toes, you will see enough bruises. That was what happened. The Nigerian police killed my husband. The Nigerian police killed my husband, leaving me a widow at the age of 36, with my two children.
“(Drawing the kids to herself, she pointed and said:) This is my first son, Emmanuel Jumbo. This is Daniel Jumbo. He is six years old, going seven. This is Daniel Jumbo, he is three years today (on Saturday, March 23, 2019). We planned a birthday party for him at the Millennium Park (in Abuja) for today. And they killed my husband.”
A MOURNING SISTER CORROBORATES
Blessing Ochigbo, younger sister of the deceased officer, also narrated what she saw on that day of sorrow, saying: “They (the police) told the doctor in the hospital that they found him dead on the floor. But the doctor said ‘I can’t issue any paper to you people because this man has bruises all over him.’
“That was when we arrived, I and my sister. And the doctor asked me: ‘Who are you to this man?’ And I said he’s my elder brother. I said, look at them; they beat him to death. The doctor was amazed. Then, he asked them: ‘Then, why did you tell me that you found him on the floor?’ That was what the doctor said. So, he (the doctor) checked him (the deceased). He wore his gloves and checked, and confirmed him dead.”
THE POLICE’S STORY
The police’s story, as told by ACP Frank Mba, sharply contradicts the account given by the Ochigbos.
“I was told he drove himself personally to the Nyanya police station,” the FPRO said. “He walked down from the car and they took him to the charge room, and began to ask him questions; simple preliminary questions. It was in that process that he suddenly slumped. They rushed him to the hospital, where he was eventually confirmed dead.”
On Saturday, the Acting Inspector General of the Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, doubled down on the matter and ordered a “comprehensive and speedy investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Ogar Jumbo, an Assistant Superintendent of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).”
A release by the Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, Mr. Frank Mba, stated that the IGP condoled with the family, the Commandant General of the NSCDC, friends and professional colleagues of the deceased, and assured that “everything humanly possible will be done to ensure that justice prevails in the case.”
The IGP, the release further stated, also announced that the NSCDC and the family of the deceased may, “for the purpose of transparency, nominate any medical doctor of their choice to witness the autopsy, at the appropriate time and venue. Needless to state that an autopsy, which is a comprehensive forensic examination on the body of a dead person, will help the investigators to have a definitive understanding of the real cause of death of the deceased.”
While calling for calm from the family and friends of the deceased and the entire public, IGP Adamu promised that the case will not be swept under the carpet.
A BOSS’ PLEA
Solomon Iyamu, the victim’s boss, also NSCDC commandant in the nation’s capital, condoled with the family, friends, colleagues and the NSCDC on the death of Ogar Jumbo Ochigbo.
He charged his officers to be calm and see the tragic passing of their colleague as “an act of God”.
A statement issued by the service also corroborated that: “Following the death of Ochigbo Jumbo Ogar (ASCI), an officer formerly serving at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, the commandant in charge of the command, Mr. Iyamu, has appealed to his officers and men to take the incident as an act of God, despite the fact that the unjust killing was perpetrated by men of a sister agency.”
Iyamu reportedly made the appeal while addressing NSCDC officers at his Wuse Zone 5, office in the federal capital, after receiving the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Bala Ciroma, who came to pay his condolences.
During his condolence visit, Ciroma was reported to have said that the police had accepted responsibility for Ochigbo’s death.
Iyamu commended the police commissioner for his prompt response to the incident which resulted in both men visiting the Asokoro General Hospital to get first-hand information on the incident.
The NSCDC boss also appreciated his visitor for promptly taking Ochigbo’s suspected assailants into custody.
He also assured his officers that the leadership of the two sister agencies were investigating the matter.
“There is no alternative to peace,” Iyamu told the officers. “Therefore, all of you should continue to see the police as our partners in progress with the mind set for cooperation and synergy towards achieving our common national goal.”
All these seem to offer little reprieve to the grieving friends and neighbours of the late Ochigbo who staged a protest, Saturday, on the killing, asking for justice.
They gathered outside the home of the Ochigbos carrying various placards condemning the incident, calling for justice, chanting: “We no go gree o! We no go gree!!”
A resident was close to tears as he commended the late NSCDC officer. “Ochigbo is a pillar in this community,” he said. “He has no replacement. We all contribute in various ways but his contribution is unique. We have no replacement. There is a gap that cannot be replaced.”
