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Police shot my 24-year-old brother – Brother of UNIPORT student
On Wednesday, July 24, 2019, a video of a young man, shot and abandoned on the ground of where seems like a police station began to circulate on social media.
In a video obtained by Sahara Reporters the voices in the video seem to agree that the young, laying in his pool of blood, had committed an egregious offence that he deserved to die. A male voice in the video said he does not deserve to live.
“Let me call my father before I die,” the young man pleaded but his plea was ignored by police officers who ignored his obvious urgent need for medical attention and continued to flash their cameras in his face.
A man, who seemed angry by whatever this young man must have done responded: “God will punish your father. God will punish your father that you want to talk to”. The video ended with this helpless man quiet and lifeless on the ground. No one helped him; both the policemen and those at the scene watched on as he bled out.
Who was the victim?
Obi Chinedu, a 24-year-old student of the University of Port Harcourt, was the young man in the video, SaharaReporters found out.
According to Obi Udochukwu, his brother, Chinedu had gone to visit his friends at Sango Ota in Ogun State, on July 15. He would later go out to buy a phone at a store close to Sango Ota Police Station.
Udochukwu explained, “While getting the phone, he and the salesgirl had an altercation. She insisted she needed to test the phone before he could leave the shop with the phone. He said there was no need for a test but she kept insisting.
“Chinedu left the phone for the storekeeper to test as she had insisted and went to sort out other things. When he got back to the shop, he realized the storekeeper had not tested the phone as she had insisted she wanted to do. This annoyed Chinedu who felt his time was being wasted.
“This led to a brawl between the two. The storekeeper got support from the people around and Chinedu was beaten up, then, handed over to the police at Sango Ota police station. He was in police detention till the next day, Friday, July 19.
“He narrated what happened to my mother when he called her from the station the next day. My mother called me that I should get his friends to bail him out. That night the police did not release him. They said he would remain in the cell for being too aggressive but his friends later bailed him.
“Before he was bailed, the owner of the shop went to the station to apologize to him that he was a customer, he does not deserve to have been treated the way he was. They settled and that was the last I heard from my mum. That was on the 19th. That was the last authentic information we heard from him.”
Chinedu’s family members thought all had been settled and were expecting him to return to Port Harcourt, where he lived with Udochukwu. Unknown to them, Chinedu had been rearrested and held in detention.
Aggrieved by his earlier detention, Chinedu had gone back to the shop, where he had gone to buy a phone to foment more troubles after he was released on Friday. According to the brother, the police said he destroyed properties and threatened to throw the storekeeper, who had caused his detention, from a storey building.
Asked how that degenerated into shooting him and leaving him to bleed to death, Udochukwu said the police told the family that Chinedu broke the handcuff that was used to restrain him and also destroyed cars within the station.
“The police said while they were interrogating him, he broke the handcuffs and right there in the interrogation room, he saw an axe, picked up the axe in the interrogation room and started destroying cars.”
In the now-viral video, a man, possibly a police officer in mufti, was seen holding an axe. Also, there was a vehicle with a damaged windscreen.
SaharaReporters’ attempts to reach Abimbola Opeyemi, the spokesperson of Ogun State Police Command was unsuccessful as he failed to respond to multiple calls put through to his phone and message sent to him via WhatsApp.
The Enugu State government has inaugurated a steering committee to eliminate Gender-Based Violence, GBV, in the state, declaring zero tolerance for the social malaise.
The inauguration took place at the Government House Enugu.
The panel, which is chaired by the Commissioner for Children, Gender Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Ngozi Enih, draws its membership from the Nigeria Police Force, Ministry of Agriculture and Agro Industrialisation, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ministry of Human Development and Poverty Reduction, Ministry of Trade, Investment and Industry, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education as well as the Civil Society.
Inaugurating the panel known as the Steering Committee for Strengthening Institutional and Community Responses to End Gender-Based Violence/Domestication of Enugu State Gender Policy using the Oputa Panel approach, Governor Peter Mbah restated his administration’s commitment to not bringing perpetrators of GBV to book, but also putting in place proactive measures – activities, infrastructure, and systems in place to prevent them.
Mbah, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said, “We take gender-based violence seriously. We have zero tolerance for it, and in Enugu State, we are ready to go the extra mile to deal with it.
“If you notice, the government has selected people that are very committed to this goal. This is not an activity where we just want to check-off the list. We will track this. We will monitor this, and we will have quarterly engagements on the successes that this particular committee has achieved in terms of reference that we are going to send.
“We will tighten those terms of reference indicators, so that we monitor what we are doing both in terms of cost input and the value added. It’s very important to us. Many people will be involved – civil society, the police and various ministries.”
He however, said that the effort was to protect everyone, men and women alike, as GBV was not restricted to any gender.
“The whole idea is to hold people responsible that are involved in matters relating to gender violence and deter people that by culture or by association get involved in that, protect women, protect our children, and in the case of violence against men, protect our men because most times we misconstrue gender violence to mean women, but it can also be men too.
“We encourage our men to speak out and to make sure they understand that the policy that Enugu State is soon going to domesticate is for everyone, and not only for the female gender,” he stated.
In her remark, Mrs. Enih, explained that the Oputa Panel approach was inspired by the need to cover all local peculiarities in domesticating the policy on GBV, restarting government’s confidence in the members of the panel.
“The approach we are going to use is the Oputa Panel approach, and in the Oputa Panel approach, we are going to tour the 17 Local Government Areas to get firsthand information about what our people are going through because policy is meant for the people, and a policy should suit the people.
“Again, every community has its peculiar problems, so that’s why the government decided that if we have to domesticate the gender policy, we have to hear from the people who own the policy and know the changes that they desire to see. That is the reason we are using this approach.
“The committee members are to also serve as judges. As we gather this information from our people, we will come back to tailor it in a way to suit the people of Enugu State, and then our policy is ready.
“We want the people to know that there is a gender policy for them. I can assure you that when the people are aware that there is such a policy, they will seek for the enforcement of that policy. So, this is not going to be one of those policies that will just lie on the shelf,” she said.
Digital solutions provider, Globacom, has congratulated Christians in Nigeria on this year’s Easter celebration, and urged them to emulate the noble qualities of Jesus Christ.
The company, in a goodwill message to the Christian faithful in the country, lauded their perseverance through the Lenten period which preceded Easter. It enjoined them to always promote the ideals of selflessness, love and peace among all as a way of demonstrating the virtues of the exemplary life of Jesus Christ.
“Peace, love and sacrifice are the central message of Easter. Christ offered himself in atonement for the sins of the world and he lived a life which made Him an eternal symbol of peace and goodwill for mankind”, Globacom added.
The company enjoined all Nigerians to share in the lessons of promoting selflessness, a necessary ingredient in the growth and development of every society. It also enjoined all Nigerians to join hands to make Nigeria a better place for all.
Easter is celebrated yearly at the end of the Lenten season of fasting and prayer considered as a ritual of purification for the Christian faithful. It also precedes the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His eventual resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The company assured its customers of seamless voice, data and Short Messaging Service (SMS) during and after the Easter celebrations, while urging them to avail themselves of the various data and voice offerings on the network.
The Guild of Private Broadcast Managers has extended its heartfelt congratulations to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as it celebrates its 70th Anniversary.
In a congratulatory message signed by the Guild’s National President, Ambassador Patrick Uzoyi-Peters, JP MNGRM, the guild described the milestone as a testament to the NUJ’s unwavering commitment to upholding press freedom, journalistic integrity, and the advancement of democracy in Nigeria.
“For seven decades, the NUJ has played a pivotal role in shaping the media landscape, advocating for the rights and welfare of journalists, and ensuring that the voice of the people remains strong and unyielding. Your resilience, professionalism, and dedication to ethical journalism have been instrumental in fostering transparency, accountability, and national development”.
Celebrating this historic achievement, the Guild’s President, Uzoyi-Peters recognized the sacrifices and contributions of journalists across the nation who work tirelessly to inform, educate, and empower society.
The Guild reiterated it commitment towards collaborating with the NUJ in promoting responsible journalism and strengthening the media industry for the greater good.
While wishing the NUJ continued success, growth, and greater impact in the years ahead, President Uzoyi-Peters prayed that the anniversary serve as a renewed call to uphold the principles of truth, fairness, and press freedom in our collective pursuit of a more informed and just society.
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