justice over the untimely death of their son.
Recall that Chike’s death resulted in protest, coinciding with this
year’s annual Nwafor festival of the Ogidi community.
Chile allegedly died in a bid to evade arrest when the police and local
vigilante operatives stormed his house to effect his arrest on July 22,
2020 night.
The police invasion of the deceased home and others was not unconnected
with the alleged Ogbor land dispute, between the Uruezealor Village and
the traditional ruler of Ogidi, Igwe Pharmacist Alex Onyido.
This disclosure was made known by the Chairman of the village, Mr Obide
Benedict who said he was among those to be arrested.
The family has appealed to Gov. Willie Obiano, Commissioner of Police,
Mr John Abang, Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, President
Mohammadu Buhari, and International community to come to their rescue.
The elder brother to the deceased and first son of the Okoye’s, Mr
Kinsley Okoye, flanked by a most junior brother, Stanley Okoye and wife
of the deceased, Mrs Ebele Okoye, said that it was a sympathetic death.
“My passionate appeal or rather my humble prayer is that I am calling on
the Commissioner of Police, Gov. Willie Obiano, IGP, President Mohammadu
Buhari, and the whole world to come to our rescue.
“We demand justice for the deliberate murder of our brother, Late Chike
Okoye on the night of 22nd July 2020.
“These persons should ensure we get justice for the deliberate murder of
my immediate junior brother who was not suffering from anything prior to
his untimely death.”
“All these terminal diseases that include, asthma, do not run in our
family,” Kingsley said
This problem started when the monarch locked up the chairman of
Uruezealor village, Mr Obide Benedict at Ogidi Police station over Ogbor
land issue because the monarch was having a running battle with the
villagers over the land”.
“So my late brother, Chike was among those who went for his bail and as
an eloquent speaker, after speaking on behalf of the villagers, the DPO
released him which did not go down well with the monarch.
“He started arresting all those who he felt were out to stop his
encroachment on the Ogbor land and about five of such people were
arrested and brought to his palace by the police.
“When they came to effect the arrest of my late brother, he wanted to
evade the arrest and they held him and on the process, he was said to
have been pushed down from the storey building and died”.
“They then abandoned him in the pool of his blood and left with the
convoy of vehicles they came with”.
Wife to the dead, Mrs Ebele Okoye said that, “I saw all that happened,
how they killed my husband.
“I was with him when his phone rang and he picked it and the caller told
him that police have arrested Obinna Agbata at Ilo Agbata. He then came
outside and I was watching him from upstairs and I advised him to come
upstairs and he told me he was coming.
Suddenly about five vehicles pulled to the front of our house, and
policemen and vigilante men saw him and as they rushed to arrest him he
ran upstairs and they pursued and arrested him in anger that he ran
away.
“They pushed him and he fell from the one- storey building and blood
started gushing out from his mouth, nose and all over his body. The
security operatives on seeing that he was dying, abandoned him and
quickly left and he was taken to Iyi-Enu hospital where he gave up the
ghost.
“I want justice done in this case, let the perpetrators be brought to
book, nobody is above the law. They have made me to become a widow at
this early stage and the God I serve will not let them go scot-free.
“Gov. Willie Obiano, IGP, and President Mohammadu Buhari please ensure
that the perpetrators are made to face the wrath of the law,” she said.
In his own appeal, the junior brother to the deceased, Stanley Okoye,
pleaded that “all the police and vigilante operatives that came to
arrest him and their sponsors should be brought to book to serve as a
deterrent to would-be future offenders”
“Why did the police that came to pick him to abandon him, because he was
dying and they ran away after killing him to be free from the atrocity
but law of retrogressive justice will not allow they to be free if they
escape human law. ###