Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba
The
missing body of a former Niger Delta militant leader, Mr. Ken Nweigha,
has pitted the family against the Bayelsa State Police Command.
The
former agitator, popularly known in the creeks as Daddy Ken, was
reportedly killed in controversial circumstances in police custody in
2011.
His remains have been a subject of dispute between the police and the deceased’s family.
The
mother of the deceased, Mrs. Agnes Nweigha, had dragged the police to a
Federal High Court demanding among other things the release of her
son’s body for a befitting burial.
The court had granted her prayers and mandated the police to unconditionally release the corpse to the family for proper burial.
Due
to the alleged delay by the police to obey the order, the family had
through their counsel, Osom Makbere, filed a contempt proceeding against
the police.
It was, however, learnt
that the police, out of fear of the contempt suit, wrote a letter to the
family requesting it to attend the exhumation of the corpse.
The letter, dated October 15 and made available to our correspondent, was signed by ACP Assayomo Emienbo.
The
police in the letter said the exhumation of the corpse had been fixed
for Tuesday after due consultation with the executive Chairman of the
Yenagoa Local Government Area.
But it was learnt that the family had given the police conditions to partake in the process.
The
family in a letter by Makbere, dated October 20 demanded an “autopsy,
forensic analysis or pathological report on the certainty of the remains
before the consequent hand over to avert a case of wrong identity.”
The
family advised the police authorities to be careful in complying with
the court order especially as it related to the remains of the deceased.
Following the family’s standpoint, the police were said to have called off the exhumation.
The police were said to have told the family that they would be informed of a new date for the exhumation.
PUNCH
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