The Police in Cross River state are
currently investigating the circumstances that led to the death of
22-year-old Douglas Ojugbo pictured above who is believed to have been
killed by one Mr Godwin Elewana over accusations that the young man was
having an affair with his daughter.
According to Punch, that Elewana, a resident of
Cross River Basin Development Authority, in
Calabar, Cross River State had repeatedly given Douglas a stern warning
to desist from coming to his house to see his daughter but the young man
refused. Things came to an unfortunate end when Mr Elewana pursued and
shot Douglas twice when he came in search of his daughter on March 10th.
According to neighbors of Mr Elewana, on seeing that he had inflicted serious injuries on the young man, he carried him into his car and drove him to the Federal Housing Police Station. The young man had died before they arrived at the police station. He was immediately buried by policemen at the station who claimed the complain they got was that he was an armed robber.
Speaking
on the matter, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station,
Mr. Mike Ezenwenrem, said "I got a call from one of my patrol
officers, who said an armed robbery suspect was being brought in. I
called the control unit, informing them that a suspect was apprehended
at the Basin Authority area. When the patrol came, I saw somebody at the
back of the pickup and they brought him down. They brought some iron
rods and one
locally-made pistol, saying an angry mob nabbed the robber. Elewana was
there with the mob. He (Elewana) said he was in his compound, when he
heard his dog barking and that when he checked, he saw someone rushing
out from the sitting room of the other flat. He said the suspect
(Douglas)
threatened him with the machete he was holding, but he (Elewana) said he
retreated to his flat and brought out his double-barrelled gun and shot
the suspect. He said after the shooting, the suspect still managed to
scale the fence, but the people around pursued him, brought him down and
beat him up. I sought to know the boy’s identity,
but nobody knew him. I then told my men to take the statement from
Elewana who acted in self-defence. The corpse was unidentified and
besides I could not raise N35,000 to take him to the mortuary, so I
called health workers in the state to take him away. I don’t know
anything about this issue
of girlfriend and boyfriend. The man said the boy came to rob in one of
his flats and later threatened him. So, it was a case of robbery. People
should not face the police, they should face the man who shot him. The
man is not on the run.”he said
In a
swift reaction, Douglas Father, Mr. Augustine Ojugbo, a lawyer, said
contrary to Mr Elewana's complain, his son was not having an affair with
his daughter. He said his son had sold a mini laptop to Mr Elewana's
daughter who paid in part and had gone to collect his balance when he
was killed by Mr Elewana
"My son is 22 years old. Sometime this
year, he sold his mini laptop to the daughter of Mr. Elewana Godwin.
Elewana’s daughter name is unknown to me at the moment. But she made a
part payment of the agreed sum, leaving the balance. My son, in a bid to collect or recover
the balance of his money, had been visiting the lady at home and he ran
into Elewana on his previous visits. Elewana, not pleased with the boy’s
presence, demanded to know what he was doing in his house. My son
explained to Elewana of his transaction with his daughter. Elewana,
without any effort to verify the boy’s story, asked him to leave his
house and warned him never to visit his house again. My son was about leaving when Elewana’s
daughter cornered him and asked him to come on March 10 to collect the
balance of his money. On that fateful day, my son went to Elewana’s
house, hoping to see the daughter as agreed, but unfortunately he saw
Mr. Elewana. Elewana, upon sighting Douglas, ran
into his room and fetched his gun. My son took to his heels to save his
life. However, Elewana pursued him until he caught up with him at the
gate of Basin Authority, and he shot my son first on the leg as a result
of which Douglas fell down. To accomplish his goal, Elewana shot him
the second time on the arm. Elewana still bundled Douglas into his
car and took him to the Divisional Police Officer of the Federal Housing
Police station. The DPO conspired with Elewana to get rid of Douglas’
corpse.” he said
When asked why Douglas
was hurriedly buried without his parents consent, the DPO Mr Ezenwenrem
said he had no where to keep Douglas body when it was brought to the
station.
"Where do you expect me
to keep the corpse when I did not have the financial power to send the
body to mortuary? We have health authority that could be called upon
anytime to dispose unidentified corpse. Where they could have faulted me
is if
someone had come to identify the corpse and I still went to the health
authority to bury the corpse. We normally call them to come and dispose
corpses, especially unidentified ones. At every point in this whole
issue, I communicated with the Commissioner of Police and also sent
signals. I did not follow the health authorities to where they took the
corpse to..”he said
Meanwhile Mr Elewana has been arrested by the police in Zone Six in Cross Rivers state for further investigation.
