Women indict police for killing husbands, workers, demand N75m compensation

Obaseki applauds volunteers, urges readiness amid the second wave of COVID-19

Wife of a victim of police brutality, Mrs. Rosemary Osahenrumwen Amadin, yesterday, appeared before the Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, alleging officers’ complicity in the killing of her husband.

Speaking through her counsel, Mrs. Amadin demanded N25m as compensation for the death of her husband, the late Amadin Odewingie.

She told the panel that officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Edo State Police Command chased her husband, who was a truck driver, to his death at Ologbo in 2019, adding that to avoid being shot, the deceased jumped into the Ologbo River and when he requested for help, the police allegedly threatened to kill anyone who offered to help him.

She alleged that the police officers watched him drowned in the river.

Similarly, a widow Mrs. Patience Imaikop Brownson, alleged complicity in the death of her husband, the late Samuel Imaikop Brownson, and three of his workers who were killed by SARS operatives in 2013.

Patience demanded N50M as compensation for the misconduct of the police officers leading to the deaths.

She told the panel that her late husband who once had an altercation with SARS operatives, was on his way to his farm at Ute village along with his three labourers of Hausa extraction when the police shot and killed them, adding that their remains were hurriedly taken away and buried

Chairman of the panel, Justice Ada Ehigiamusoe (rtd), however, adjourned the hearing of the cases to enable the police to state their own side of the story.

MEANWHILE, Governor Godwin Obaseki has commended volunteers in the frontline of the government’s response in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and urged caution and readiness amid warnings of a second wave.

In a statement, he applauded the volunteers for their bravery in offering their expertise, resources, and extra time to help contain the pandemic and save the lives of others.

Obaseki said this in commemoration of this year’s International Volunteer Day for Social and Economic Development marked by the United Nations and its sister agencies, with the theme: Together We Can Through Volunteering.

“As the world marks the International Volunteer Day for Social and Economic Development, we celebrate and applaud volunteers in the state who have been on the frontlines of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We salute your courage, commitment, and sacrifice so that many others may live. Without you, our response to the pandemic would have been a lot harder, if not impossible,” he said.