Police, vigilante strangled Delta LG cheiftain, says family

IGP, Mohammed Abubakar

FAMILY of the slain Head of Personnel Management (HPM), of Isoko North local council of Delta State, Mr. Benjamin Chegwe, has restated their claim that police men and two vigilante corps members shot and later strangled their sibling to death. But police now want to cover the truth.

The family has raised an alarm over what it described as corporate falsehood and alleged attempts by the State Police Command to absolve itself of complicity in the murder.

Reacting to media reports allegedly credited to the Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police Command, Mr. Charles Muka, the family issued a statement, alleging that the facts on ground clearly establish that the late Chegwe was lured into an ambush, jointly laid for him by a vigilante member and a youth leader from Ogume town along with four police officers from Kwale Police Station in Ndokwa West local council of the state.

The statement issued on the family’s behalf by Mr. Emeke Chegwe, further alleged that the police had attempted to absolve itself from “complicity in the ground conspiracy, ambush and murder of Benjamin Chegwe” adding that “the Fulani herdsman who has been reportedly arrested by the police was nowhere in the scene of crime on the day in question neither was there any sporadic gunfire from any quarter whatsoever as alleged by the police.”

The statement went further: “Benjamin was strangled to death after being weakened by a singular bullet which was fired at close range into the lower abdominal region through the right side of the thigh. Same bullet came out through the left.

There is also evidence that after the fire, Benjamin did not die immediately but was deliberately left to die in his pool of blood explaining the almost three hours interval between the time he was shot and when he arrived in the hospital, a journey which otherwise would have taken less than twenty minutes drive from where he was shot.

Describing late Mr. Benjamin Chegwe as a seasoned local government administrator who has served Delta State meritoriously and tirelessly in various capacities, the statement urged all sympathisers and members of the public to remain calm and await a full press briefing. “Our confidence is in justice; our confidence is in the Inspector General of Police.”

The deceased was reportedly murdered in his farm in Kwale on September 30.

The Compass