Anambra state Police Command has said it is investigating alleged murder of a tricycle (Keke) rider, Chinedu Samuel Agu in Onitsha by a Police Sgt.Magaji and two other police operatives.
The command is also investigating alleged compromise by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Bridgehead Police Station, Godson Mgbirionye Ubani in the murder case.
According to the Police Public Relation Officer, SP Haruna Mohammed, people should not preempt the ongoing investigation by Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the command.
Mohammed’s reaction followed a complaint by a human rights organisation, Human Rights Defenders of Nigeria (HRDN), which alleged that the 22-year-old Agu, who lived in Asaba, the Delta state capital and plied his Keke business in Onitsha, was murdered over his refusal to pay N100 ‘settlement’.
HRDN, in a petition to the state Commissioner of Police, Garba Baba Umar, claimed that Chinedu Samuel Agu, who hailed from Ebonyi state was forcefully ejected from his Keke on the fateful day and kicked severally with the police rifle butt before being pushed into an oncoming vehicle which led to his instant death on June 8, 2018 about 3.20pm.
The rights group added that, following the incident, they wrote a petition to the Police Commissioner, signed by their chairman, Dede Uzor A.
Uzor, and the culprit, Sgt Magaji was arrested, while two other police officers were not questioned over their roles in the “despicable act.” HRDN said it was aghast by the alleged sudden release of Sgt.
Magaji by the DPO, which they learnt on 11th June 2018 when Agu’s family was invited by the DPO.
“They were told to their amazement that the detained Sgt Magaji had escaped from lawful Police detention and pleaded with the family to proceed to the mortuary to carry the body of the deceased burial,” the petition stated
