Jimoh Ifi
The
wife of a vigilante has accused policemen attached to the Sapele Police
Division, Delta State, of aiding the thugs who killed her 36-year-old
husband.
The widow, Mrs. Esther Ifi,
said the six-man gang had tortured her late husband, Mr. Jimoh Ifi, to a
coma in the presence of the policemen around 8pm on July 16, 2014.
PUNCH Metro
learnt that the gang had attacked the deceased for failing to remit a
sum of N500 to the head of the vigilante group, Mr. Felix Ipemu. The
sum, it was learnt, was given to the victim by a man who visited their
joint in the Igbeku Community when the chairman was not around.
Our
correspondent gathered that the leader of the group, who also doubled
as the youth leader in the community, reportedly ordered his boys to
unleash terror on Jimoh for being disloyal to the group.
Esther told PUNCH Metro that after falling into a coma, her husband was taken to the police station by the policemen.
The father of four was said to have died in police custody the following night.
Esther
said the suspected assailants were being sponsored by a politician in
the state. It was also alleged that the alleged sponsor had made
entreaties to the deceased’s family to ‘settle’ the matter.
Narrating her ordeal, the widow said life had been difficult for the family since her husband was murdered.
She
said, “It has been difficult for me to fend for the children since the
gang killed my husband. They attacked him three times that very day. He
was relaxing at home around 8pm when they attacked him again. Even
though the police saw the gang beating him, they did not do anything.
“Instead,
they bundled him inside their van and took him to the station. His
brother and I begged them to release him, but they refused. It was the
following day that we learnt he was dead. Just because of N500, they
snatched my joy from me.”
PUNCH Metro
further gathered that a separate team of policemen eventually swooped
on the suspected assailants, leading to the arrests of the ringleader
and one of his boys identified as Lugard Tebu.
It was learnt that four suspects were still at large.
In
a petition filed to the Inspector General of Police, the Delta State
Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, and the state’s commissioner of police, the
solicitor for the family, Mr. Omajali Emmanuel, demanded the arrest of
the fleeing suspects, adding that the policemen that arrested the
deceased were also culpable.
The
petition read in part, “We are representatives of Mr. Jimoh Ifi, Mrs.
Esther Ifi, Miss Juliet Ifi, Miss Knowledge Ifi, Miss Praise Ifi and
Miss Prayer Ifi and other members of the family.
“It
is on their behalf and instructions we forward this petition. While
appealing to you to assist us in arresting the other suspects, we are
also of the view that the team that handled the matter contributed to
the death of the deceased. They must be brought to book in the interest
of justice and fair play.’
The
spokesperson for the Delta State Police command, DSP Celestina Kalu,
confirmed Jimoh’s murder. She, however, debunked the widow’s claim that
policemen watched the thugs kill her late husband.
“Two
of the suspects who murdered him have been arrested and charged to
court. It is a complete lie that the police conspired with the gang to
kill the victim,” she said.
http://www.punchng.com/metro-plus/policemen-watched-my-husbands-colleagues-kill-him-wife/
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