Nothing would have suggested to Mr. Bede Nkworji that Saturday, 2nd of November would be his last until some policemen allegedly conscripted to intimidate him came calling in the small hours of the morning.
Nkworji had allegedly died at in the Imo state Police Command following injuries sustained in the hands of the policemen who came to arrest him on the strength of a petition written by a wealthy and influential kinsman.
According to one of the survivors of the arrest and police brutality, Mr Ngozi Nkworji, who is also a brother to the deceased, the police team from the Anti Crime Unit led by one Lady G., had come to their village to arrest him and his now deceased brother based on the said petition.
He maintained that his brother was still alive but very weak when they got to the police station but the police officers were totally insensitive and uncaring, as such ignored Bede’s plea for medical attention until he finally gave-up the ghost as a result of the brutality and violence visited on him by the police.
He said: “The body of Bede was left on the floor of the Police station, lying naked like a common criminal. As a matter of fact, we were three persons arrested on that day; the policemen who stormed our place at about 4am had earlier arrested Bede and the original land owner from whom we bought the land, Mr Ejike Okere, before I was picked up at Ulakwo.
It was by the special grace of God that I am alive today and still able to speak”, Ngozi revealed.
According to an eye witness account, the trio of Bede, Ejike and Ngozi were beaten mercilessly, with their clothes torn before they were taken to the police command.
It was gathered however that the issue of the land dispute is not in any law court rather the arrest was strictly at the instance of the complainant who is reported to be a prominent man in the area.
Efforts to identify the officers who went on the operation were unfruitful, but when contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officers (PPRO), Mr Orlando Ikokwu, confirmed the development, saying that it was men of the Anti–Vices Squad and not Anti–Crime as earlier claimed by Ngozi that carried out the operation.
He stated that they had received a petition bordering on malicious destruction, conspiracy and threat to life which led to the arrest. Nonetheless, he denied that the suspect died in the police station stating that the suspect died while enroute to the police command that he began to complain of ill-health and the police took him to a hospital where he later died.
This, the deceased’s brother had also dismissed as ‘blatant lie’.
The police spokesman further noted that youths of Ngor Okpala had taken laws into their hands and burnt down the house of the petitioner on hearing of the death of Bede.
When asked of the name of the hospital where Bede was taken for medical help, Mr. Orlando Ikeokwu said he was unaware of the name of the hospital and its location.
