Edo youths protest death of 26-year-old car dealer

  The protesters with a banner bearing Obode’s picture

SOME youths in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Tuesday took to the streets to protest against the death of a 26-year-old man, Benson Obode, who allegedly died in police custody.

The protesters, who comprised relatives of the victim and members of various civil society organisations, marched in the rain with placards, from the State House of Assembly around the Ring Road area to the Edo State Police Command Headquarters, and later to the Government House, chanting solidarity songs and demanding justice for the deceased.

It was gathered that late Benson, said to be a car dealer in Benin, was arrested on May 21, 2015, at his Ohovbe Quartres residence in the Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state, by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad from the Edo Police Command for allegedly buying a stolen vehicle.

According to the deceased elder brother, Mr. Solomon Obode, the aggrieved family was later informed two months later that he died as a result of an alleged mob attack.

Solomon told Southern City News that the family had, prior to the death of his brother, approached the state police command over the victim’s arrest and his whereabouts but was told that the police had nothing to do with his case.

“The SARS in Edo State arrested him; the SARS commander, DSP Solomon, told them (my sister and her husband) that the boy (deceased) bought a stolen car. They (police) did not release him.

“On May 22, his family members went back to SARS, but the operatives said they did not have anything to do with the case; that they did not know where Benson had gone to. Since then, we had searched for him,” Solomon said.

He said that the aggrieved relatives of the victim had written to the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Samuel Adegbuyi, twice in June, but did not get any response until they were informed by the police that the 26-year-old man had died as a result of a mob attack.

“When they were asked how he died, they (police) said that it was a mob attack. The family decided to come back (to Edo). Up till now, we have not been given any details,” he said.

But Solomon, who said that the remains of his brother was later discovered in a mortuary at the Central Hospital in Benin, two months after his arrest, accused the police of being responsible for the death of his younger brother, saying he died on the same day that he was arrested.

He urged the state government and the House of Assembly to order an investigation into the cause of his late brother.

“The family decided to search mortuaries in Edo State and his body was found at the Central Hospital in Benin. The police deposited his body in the mortuary, with the name Benson Agu, not even Benson Obode. He was killed on May 21, the very day he was arrested.

“His landlord told us that the boy’s hands and legs were tied to the back, they crossed a stick on him and placed a block (cement). As if that was not enough, they shot him in his left rib and he died. They hid him from his family and refused to tell the family what was happening. Justice is what we need,” Solomon said.

The President of the Conference of Non-governmental Organisations, Mr. Jude Obasanmi, who tendered a petition to the Speaker of the House, Mr. Victor Edoror, described the incident as one among several cases of “police recklessness and extra-judicial killings” and called for urgent actions by House and the Nigeria Police Force to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the man.

But the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Adegbuyi, who was represented by a Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration in the state command, Mr. Sodiq Bello, said the command would meet with the aggrieved family and commence investigation on the matter.

He said, “This incident is very unfortunate. It is not all of us that are in the investigation section. However, you are providing us with valuable information, which we are going to use to investigate this very issue.

“I assure you that we are going to investigate and we are going to say it loud and clear; we have nothing to hide. I hope you will have the courage to tell members of the public by the time we are through with the investigation whatever comes out of it.”