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The wife of a 36-year old vigilante man in Delta State has accused policemen of aiding the death of her husband and father of four for allowing his colleagues beat him to coma in their presence. Not satisfied with the beating, the police in charge allegedly whisked him away in that state to the police station where he passed away the next day. His wife has petitioned the Governor of the State, IG and Police Commissioner saying life has been unbearable for her since the incident happened and also wants justice. Here’s how Punch newspaper reports it.
he wife of a vigilante has accused policemen attached to the Sapele Police Division, Delta State, of aiding the thugs who killed her 36-year-old husband.
The widow, Mrs. Esther Ifi, said the six-man gang had tortured her late husband, Mr. Jimoh Ifi, to a coma in the presence of the policemen around 8pm on July 16, 2014.
Punch Metro learnt that the gang had attacked the deceased for failing to remit a sum of N500 to the head of the vigilante group, Mr. Felix Ipemu. The sum, it was learnt, was given to the victim by a man who visited their joint in the Igbeku Community when the chairman was not around.
Our correspondent gathered that the leader of the group, who also doubled as the youth leader in the community, reportedly ordered his boys to unleash terror on Jimoh for being disloyal to the group.
Esther told Punch Metro that after falling into a coma, her husband was taken to the police station by the policemen.
The father of four was said to have died in police custody the following night.
Esther said the suspected assailants were being sponsored by a politician in the state. It was also alleged that the alleged sponsor had made entreaties to the deceased’s family to ‘settle’ the matter.
Narrating her ordeal, the widow said life had been difficult for the family since her husband was murdered.
She said, “It has been difficult for me to fend for the children since the gang killed my husband. They attacked him three times that very day. He was relaxing at home around 8pm when they attacked him again. Even though the police saw the gang beating him, they did not do anything.
“Instead, they bundled him inside their van and took him to the station. His brother and I begged them to release him, but they refused. It was the following day that we learnt he was dead. Just because of N500, they snatched my joy from me.”
Punch Metro further gathered that a separate team of policemen eventually swooped on the suspected assailants, leading to the arrests of the ringleader and one of his boys identified as Lugard Tebu.
It was learnt that four suspects were still at large.
In a petition filed to the Inspector General of Police, the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, and the state’s commissioner of police, the solicitor for the family, Mr. Omajali Emmanuel, demanded the arrest of the fleeing suspects, adding that the policemen that arrested the deceased were also culpable.
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