Family accuses police of ‘cover up’ in father’s death

The late Michael

Mr. Raymond Michael, resident in Calabar, Cross River State, has urged the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to constitute an investigation into the suspicious death of his late father, Inspector Michael Udoh Idiong.

Raymond, who was apparently perturbed by the manner his father died, accused the Ebonyi Police Command, of cover up where his father’s death was concern.

According to him and his mother, there was more to the death of Michael than meet eyes. They feel the police were being economical with the truth.

The young man further approached the Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), to assist them in ensuring that this investigation was carried out.

Raymond explained that on February 19, 2016, around 6am, he saw a missed call from his father’s phone number. He didn’t immediately call back, thinking his dad would call back.

He said: “Shortly after, my mother called and told me that someone had also called her with my dad’s phone number. She said the caller informed her that my dad had an accident the previous night. The caller wanted to know if there was anyone in Ebonyi who could come and stay with my dad at the hospital. The caller said he wanted to leave the hospital.”

Mrs. Michael immediately left Calabar for Ebonyi that same moment. She made calls to the number, but the caller didn’t pick.

On getting to the police station, where Michael used to work before the accident, Mrs. Michael was taken to Maria Ines Hospital, Umuzoke - Ezillo Abakaliki.

 She met Michael unconscious, with plasters on his head and a deep cut on his hand.

She inquired to know what happened to her husband and how it happened, but she was told ‘you should even thank your God you met him alive.’

Recounting what his mother told him, Raymond said: “The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of Ishielu Police Station, Mr. Amah Bethel, later told my mum that my dad had an accident involving a 911 Lorry. The DPO however failed to offer any explanation on how the accident happened.  My dad later regained consciousness, but couldn’t say what happened to him; he only managed to mumble a few, incomprehensible words. The words were however not connected to what happened to him.”

Mrs. Michael said she saw her husband’s two phones on a table in the hospital ward, and noted both were in perfect condition; and also his police uniform was stained with blood.

On February 22, 2016, when the plaster on his head was removed to dress the wound, she discovered that her husband had a stitched deep cut on the head. It was the deep cut that made her to doubt the story that Michael was involved in any accident.

She said that all these while, Michael was placed on drip, and mostly asleep. The doctor said he needed to be allowed to rest.

Mrs. Michael deposited N5, 000 and the police said they had previously deposited N5, 000 for Michael’s treatment before his wife’s arrival.

Raymond said: “The DPO later came to the hospital with a man whom he introduced to my mum as the brother of the Lorry driver, who hit my dad. The man gave her N20, 000, while the DPO added another N3000.

“The DPO told my mum that the lorry driver was detained at the police station awaiting arraignment in court. My dad was referred to Teaching Hospital in Abakaliki on February, 26, over the former hospital lack of Oxygen. The police made a deposit at the Teaching Hospital and left, and my dad was left at the hospital corridor without being allocated a bed space, even as his case was very critical.”

Michael’s sons ran around from one section of the hospital to another to get doctors to attend to their father; but he remained at that corridor, unattended to, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. before he was eventually taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The doctors said Michael needed a CT scan to ascertain if there was blood in his brain, but the Teaching Hospital didn’t have the CT scanner, and complained that he should have been brought earlier so that he could be stabilised and taken to Enugu for the scan.

“My dad opened his eyes again on February 28, but still unable to talk. He eventually died later that evening,” said Raymond.

Michael’s wife requested the police to make the police ambulance available for her to convey her husband’s corpse home to Calabar, but the police said the police ambulance was not in order.

Michael’s children rallied and got an ambulance for N30, 000 to convey the remains, and the DPO gave the woman the sum of N10, 000. He however refused the woman’s request for a police escort to convey the corpse home. She had to accompany her husband’s corpse alone.

The police also refused to carry out an autopsy on the body of Michael who had served the Police Force for 33 years.

Michael was awaiting a promotion to the next rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) between March and April 2016 before his death.

Neither the DPO nor any family member of the supposed Lorry driver had called Mrs. Michael or sent any delegation to the family since they conveyed the corpse home.

NOPRIN national coordinator, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, urged the IGP to order an investigation to establish the actual cause of death.

He stated: “The injuries on the deceased Inspector’s head and hand were deep cuts, not bruises and were both stitched. The family finds it curious how an accident with a lorry could cause deep cuts on the head and hand.  The police are yet to give the family any detailed, convincing and satisfactory explanation about the so-called accident that resulted in the death of their father.

“The family learnt that Michael was on night duty with his colleagues on that fateful night when the 'accident' happened. Before the Inspector's corpse was conveyed from Ebonyi to Calabar, the DPO had on February 29, told the Inspector's wife that the lorry driver had been charged to court, although the family never had the opportunity to see him and ask him questions or to even hear from any of the other officers who were on duty with the Inspector.

“On March 23, the DPO called one of the deceased Inspector's relatives and asked him if they had fixed a date for the burial. The family is wondering why the DPO was more interested in having the deceased buried even as he had not talked about an autopsy being carried out to establish the actual cause of the injuries and death of the Inspector.

Nwanguma continued: “The IG should ascertained the role of the lorry driver, the man presented as his ‘brother’ and why the DPO did not ensure an autopsy, but was more interested in seeing that the deceased is hurriedly buried. The other officers who were said to have been on duty with Michael when the 'accident' happened should also be compelled to say what they know.”