02-05-2021, 09:10 AM
Quote:Mrs. Victoria Nwazue, mother of late Chinomso Nwazue, has accused officers of Nigeria Police Force from Central Police Station, CPS Umuahia Abia state of beating his son to death in their custody.
The deceased Chinomso was until his death a fairly used clothes dealer, popularly known as okirika in the metropolis.
Narrating how her son was killed before Judicial Panel of Inquiry sitting in Umuahia on Wednesday, Mrs. Nwazue said policemen numbering about 5 on October 29, 2016, invaded their home located at No 85 Okuzu Lane by Niger road Umuahia, beat her son and later took him away in the middle of the night.
She expressed shock that before the next day when she and her elder son, Chukwuemeka Nwazue went to the said station the next day to make enquiry on what the offence of her son was, she was told he is dead and deposited at the mortuary.
She said, ”Around 11 pm, I heard noises from outside, one of the voices I heard was my son Chinomso’s voice.
”I came out and saw some policemen about 5 of them holding my son. He was asking them what he did but they were beating and kicking him with their legs, hands, and batons.
” I was able to identify them as policemen because they were on uniform and came with a van.
”I was shouting and asking the policemen what my son did but none of them responded to me.
”I held one of the policemen on his waist, asking him to kill me too, but he pushed me into the gutter where I hit my head.
“The policemen pulled Chinomso’s trouser and tied it around his waist where he was operated on.
”A kidney correctional surgery was carried out on Chinomso in 1982 at UNTH Enugu.
”They dragged my son into the van and asked me to come to CPS Bende Road Umuahia.
” It was late so I couldn’t go that night and I was still mourning my late husband. I called my son Chukwuemeka and narrated everything to him” she said.
Mother of the deceased who could not hold her tears said a man whose identity she couldn't ascertain informed her the next day of her son's death after she narrated what happened.
She however confirmed the development upon arrival at the Central Police Station.
She said apart from the injury she sustained in her head when she hit it on the pavement after the incident, she has also developed high blood pressure.
According to her, the same police deposited the corpse in the mortuary and released same to the family.
Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwazue, elder brother to the deceased said he wrote to the AIG Zone 9 Umuahia, and the governor of Abia State but nothing was done about the matter.
He also mentioned that the police never showed up for condolence or any other thing as regards the matter before and after his brother’s burial.
According to him, he wrote to the police, to release the corpse of Chinomso as they were not doing anything about it.
He said Chinomso was buried on November 2, 2017.
He noted that no amount of money can compensate for his late brother. He, however, pleaded a compensation of N100M.
Responding, the Counsel to the police, FC Okafor stated that the police has no witness to present as no police officer was mentioned in the petition. “Therefore there is no way to identify the perpetrators of the said act,” he said.
Source: https://abntv.com.ng/2021/02/abia-police-arrested-tortured-my-son-to-death-woman-narrates/