Leaders from the Enenurhie community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State and the state police command are exchanging accusations over the death of a youth leader.
The community alleges foul play and extra-judicial actions leading to the youth leader’s death, while the Delta police command contends that he died in the hospital during treatment.
The deceased, Mr. Oyibo Diamond of Enenurhie, a father of five, was arrested and detained on December 20, 2023, at Ughelli A Police Division. The community’s youth leader reportedly died on Christmas Eve under mysterious circumstances while in detention.
The police conducted an autopsy on him without informing the community or family members.
Peter Maison, the President General of Enenurhie, stated that Diamond was invited by the police from Ughelli A’ Division in connection with an incident where an armed robber was killed in the Evwreni community.
“Probably the police saw the phone number of my community youth leader in the phone of the deceased who the police said is a robber or kidnapper and when they came for raiding, the youth leader was among the six persons arrested at his elder brother’s hotel in Unenurhie community.
“When we heard about the incident we went to the station to effect their release, the police refused, they insisted that they had a particular case against the youth leader, that they had traces of call between him and the suspected deceased robber/kidnapper.
“I called the youth leader’s elder brother and we went but from what the DPO told me, it looks as if the boy died on Saturday, December 23 and he just kept it to himself,” he said.
He expressed suspicion of foul play and questioned the police’s handling of the situation. Maison noted the need for transparency in the investigation and criticised the police for conducting an autopsy without notifying the community or the deceased’s family.
He added, “I suspect foul play. When he broke the news to me he was panicking and regretting that if he had known, he would have released him to me on Saturday but the damage has been done.
“As a community, we are going to have legal issues with him, because the circumstances that led to his death are not too clear to us, they did not come up with the result of their investigation that made them keep him there for a number of days.
“It is surprising that the police carried out an autopsy on him without the knowledge of the community or family members just to absolve themselves from his death.
“The Pathologist is somebody the same police brought on their own and I as a person will not believe any result that would be presented, my understanding of autopsy is not just by merely observing the body whether there is a wound on the body.
“Autopsy ought to be a thing where Specialists would collect vital organs of the body and are taken for test before coming up with a result but they never did that, but when the chips are down we will know the steps to be taken.
“We see that they want to come for settlement but for now they should put that aside and tell us what they have done to him, they arrested the guy on December 20 and they told us that he died.”
Delta State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Edafe Bright, stated that the deceased was sick, taken to the hospital, and died during treatment, not in detention.
He confirmed that an autopsy had been carried out, confirming that the cause of death was natural sickness.