The police in Rivers state today paraded 13 persons including the
traditional ruler of Aluu,Alhaji Hassan Welewa accused of complicity in the
gruesome murder of four students of the University of Port Harcourt; Llyod
Toku Mike, Chiadika Biringa, Tekena Elkanah and Ugonna Obuzor.
Others paraded along with the 59 year old monarch
include: Ozioma Abajuo, 23; Chigozie Evans Samuel, 22; Endurance Edet, 27;
Uwem Sampson Akpabio, 30; David Chinasa Ugbaje, 30; Ikechukwu Louis Amadi
(aka Kapoon), 32; Cynthia Chinwo, 24; Lawal Segun 28; Lucky
Orji, 43; Ekpe Daniel, 30; George Nwadei, 30; and Gabriel Oche, 33.
While justifying the decision to parade the suspects at the state
police commands headquarters, located on Moscow road, Port Harcourt, the state
police commissioner, Mohammed Indabuwa, said it was all because of the cruel
manner the four students were killed by the suspects and the public
condemnation that followed.
According to him: “It is not the philosophy of the
Inspector-General of Police to parade suspects. Nonetheless, the gruesome manner in which the crime was
committed, coupled with the direct and glaring involvement of some of the
suspects, and the interest generated by the heinous crime, left the police with
no option than to parade them.”
The commissioner of police assured that any other
arrest made, would be made public, adding that investigations were
continuing. A mild
drama however played out when one of the three suspects allowed to respond to
the allegation raised against them accused one of the policemen that got to the
scene when the four students were being beaten of joining the mob to kill the
deceased.
In his words: “The
crowd took the boys to No. 9 Royal Hill, Omuokiri, Aluu
Road, where they ( students) pointed at a room occupied by one Bright (now at
large) from Ogoni. Bright’s door was
locked. He was my co-tenant. They beat the boys severally and very
seriously. One of the police was
pleading but the other one even joined hands in kicking one of the
boys. After joining hands in beating the boys, the policeman said, ‘let
the crowd handle them’. The crowd
said they will not agree. I only participated by using my
belt to flog the boys, and I told the people who brought
them to the house to take them away so that they would not kill them there. One of the boys was my customer at the campus. I am a
cobbler. He was an Igbo boy.”
Also giving his own account of how the four students were beaten
to death, another suspect, Ikechukwu (aka Kapoon) said: “the boys were beaten mercilessly, police came and
they refused to hand them over to the police. We
resisted their killing them in our
compound. I was flogging both the crowd and the boys. I used short stick on
them.”
The third suspect who was allowed to speak, Segun however
denied taking any part in the killing of the four students.
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