A mobile police officer attached to one Chief Johnny Aribogha on Saturday allegedly shot dead a 34-year-old man identified as Mr. Fred Iguariede, during a funeral ceremony at Emede, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The trigger happy mobile police man was alleged to have killed the young man while trying to leave the burial scene as he shot sporadically into the air.
According to the family of the deceased, the mobile policeman allegedly shot dead Iguariede when he attempted to greet Chief Aribogha at the ceremony.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Mr. Governor Ogbon, said that he suspected a foul play in the way and manner their son was killed, calling on the relevant authorities to ensure justice.
Narrating how they got to know about the death of their son, Ogbon said that the family was informed about the incident by some other other people, who called and told them the tragedy that occurred at Emede.
He added that as at the time of reporting the matter to the press, Chief Aribogha, who the mobile policeman was attached to, had yet to visit the family to inform them about what happened to their son.
Speaking further, Ogbon said, “On the 19th of August, my brother was invited by one Mr. Joe Akugbeghe to his mother in-law’s burial ceremony. Mr Joe is a tenant to Chief Aribogha. Incidentally, my younger brother used to work for Chief Aribogha and Chief Aribogha was also invited to the burial ceremony. When my brother saw him, he wanted to greet him as his former boss. He was shot in the process by one of the mobile police men attached to Chief Johnny.
“When we were told about the incident, we decided to go to Emede to find out what really happened but we could not get any tangible information. So, we went back to see my brother’s wife, who told us that her husband went to the burial ceremony with Chief Johnny’s brother, since they are close friends.
“We were told that they have brought our brothers corpse to the police station at Oleh. At the police station, we were told that the police had not seen those that reported the matter to them. They said they had been trying to get in touch with Chief Aribogha but that his phones were switched off. They also told us that the mobile policeman, who shot our brother, had been arrested and had been moved to Warri. The police told us to write our statement, which we did.
He further explained, “As we are talking to you now, no one has come to brief us on what happened. We went to the mortuary, where we saw the body of our brother. We have not heard from the family of Chief Johnny. The DCO in charge of the case said they had not seen the chief.
“We want justice for our brother, because we believe that Chief Johnny killed our brother. We suspect foul play in all these. My brother was a domestic driver with Johnny. Throughout his working period, he had no problem with Chief Johnny.”
When contacted on phone, Chief Aribogha told our correspondent that what happened was an accidental discharge.
“I was about leaving the venue of the burial ceremony when I heard a gunshot. I was immediately informed that one of my mobile policeman had shot somebody. The mobile policeman was taken to the Oleh Police Station and he was immediately detained.
“I have met with the maternal family of the deceased. As I am speaking to you right now we are on our way to see the paternal family of the deceased,” Chief Aribogha said.
As at the time of filing this report, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Andrew Aniamaka, did not pick calls made to his phone by our correspondent.
