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Police aided my wife’s brutal murder, husband laments

By Chido Okafor, Warri
29 July 2019   |   4:17 am
The family of the late Mrs. Grace Ogorchukwu Dagbo, who was killed on a lonely road in Ovwian, Udu local council of Delta State on July 20, has accused...

Grace Dagbo

The family of the late Mrs. Grace Ogorchukwu Dagbo, who was killed on a lonely road in Ovwian, Udu local council of Delta State on July 20, has accused the police team who impounded her vehicle that night of complicity in the whole unfortunate drama that led to her sudden death.

Husband of the deceased, Mr. Benjamin Ejiroghene Dagbo, and his 11-year-old daughter, Miss Oghenenyerhovwo Dagbo, who was with her mother when she was shot and killed, have queried the police patrol team’s decision to forcibly impound and drive away with her car leaving her and her daughter on the lonely road to be robbed and killed by gunmen riding in a tricycle.

The family alleged that the so-called robbery incident was aided by the police team after the police patrol team saw N200,000 in the deceased’s car when they searched it. They, therefore, urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to conduct a public hearing/inquest on the entire murder saga, particularly the role played by the patrol team attached to the Ovwian police station.

According to the husband of the deceased, on July 20, at about 6:00p.m. his eldest daughter accompanied the deceased to her office by Express Junction, Ovwian to reconcile, arrange materials and collect all payments made for that day before heading for Effurun to convey the fabrics of her company’s decoration from an event.

At about 7:30p.m. while the deceased was driving her Toyota Sienna car with registration number AGL 822 EY, she decided to drive through the Aladja DSC flyover by-pass as the main route to the Ovwian Express Junction was under maintenance work.

Dagbo narrated that while on that lonely bypass reputed for criminal activities, the duo were flagged down by a police patrol team who demanded for the vehicle’s particulars and tinted glass permit. The deceased promptly gave the said policemen her vehicle particulars but could not immediately give them a copy of her tinted glass permit, which the deceased claimed she left at home.

The policemen ordered the mother and daughter out of the vehicle at gunpoint while the policemen searched the vehicle including the hand bag of the deceased containing the sum of N200,000.00. At that point, the vehicle belonging to the deceased was impounded by the police and immediately driven away by a policeman while the other policemen and their team leader entered into their patrol van and left the deceased and her daughter stranded in the lonely route in the dark.

He said immediately the policemen entered their patrol van and left the scene, a commercial tricyclist drove from nowhere pretending to aid the above duo. The duo entered into the tricycle that had two other men at the back, the deceased decided to sit with the rider at the front seat while her daughter sat with the two men at the back.

After driving some few metres, the deceased was dispossessed of her handbag and phones and in the confusion that ensured, the deceased was shot on her rib and was forcefully pushed out of the said tricycle alongside her daughter.

He said: “While the deceased was bleeding in the pool of her blood on the ground, her daughter was wailing for help, which attracted sympathizers in the area who rushed her to the nearby Lonia Clinic in Ovwian at about 8:00p.m. with her intestines gushing out. Doctors on duty certified the deceased dead.”

Human rights lawyer and counsel to the Dagbo family, Oghenejabor Ikimi, while condemning the police conduct, said the Dagbo family believes the patrol team were working hand in hand with the gunmen that murdered their wife and daughter.

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