Some policemen have allegedly shot dead an engineer,
Chinedu Uzor, during an altercation at a checkpoint in
Sperando Junction, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
We learnt that the leader of the police team,
Inspector Agbo Onwe, had been arrested and detained at the
command headquarters, Abakaliki.
Our correspondent gathered that on Sunday, July 19, Uzor, a
mechanical engineer, was returning from a club with a friend,
whose name had yet to be identified, when they got to a
checkpoint at the Presco area.
It was learnt that 33-year-old Uzor reportedly zoomed past
the policemen but stopped at another checkpoint at Sperando
Junction.
It was learnt that the policemen at Presco, however, came
after him to Sperando and shot him in the head and chest. A
witness was said to have contacted the family, after which he
rushed the engineer to a nearby hospital where he died.
Speaking with journalist, Uzor’s wife, Nkiruka, said she
was expecting her husband on Sunday when she was called
on the telephone that he had been shot and hospitalised.
She said, “They were two in the vehicle. They were returning
from a social club in the area. It was not his first time of
going. His custom was to drop his friends, who were not
mobile, to their respective houses.
“On that Sunday, I called his phone, but he did not pick. I
called another person who was at the meeting; he said they
just dispersed. It was not up to an hour that a man called me
from a hospital and asked whether I knew a man, Chinedu. I
replied that he was my husband.
“He said my number was his last call, and he was now in the
hospital. So, I went there. But he was injured badly, and
minutes later, he died. I want justice on this matter. I am a
university student. He has aged parents that he cared for. We
do not have any child yet.”
An eyewitness said Uzor’s head was blown open by the
bullets and his brain tissues spilled out.
He said, “The man was driving back home, and he saw those
men dressed in mufti flagging him to stop. For fear that they
might be robbers, he did not stop. When he got to another
checkpoint where uniformed policemen were, he felt safe to
stop.
“While he was explaining himself to the officers, the guys in
mufti from Presco arrived and shot him on his head at close
range. He was rushed to a specialist hospital where he died.”
The Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer, Anyanwu
Chibuike, confirmed the arrest of Onwe, adding that the matter
was being investigated at the State Department of Criminal
Investigations.
He said, “The state command will not cover up any form of
such action. There was a similar incident some time ago, and
the policeman involved is now in prison. In this particular
incident, the leader of the team is in detention.
“The bullets have been retrieved, and they are being subjected
to ballistic forensic investigations. The case is being
investigated at the SCID. It is unfortunate.”