The family members of a police officer, Inspector Sunday Peter, attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigeria Police Force, Lagos State Police Command, has demanded justice after the police officer died “mysteriously” during a patrol.
Family sources told SaharaReporters that the death of the Inspector who hailed from the Epeagbo Otukpa in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, still remained unexplained as an examination of his body revealed he had cuts on his neck and bruises on his body.
The family alleged that the inspector was killed as against the claim by the police authorities that he fell ill and died.
According to the sources, Peter left his house for a normal daily routine patrol with his colleagues on May 16, 2024 but never returned home alive.
“On Friday, 17th May, at about 7am, one of the colleagues called the younger brother that Inspector Peter was dead and had been deposited at the morgue. JUST LIKE THAT?”
The family continued, “The police claimed he fell sick during the patrol and he was rushed to the hospital but the facility requested for a deposit of N100,000 and before they could raise the money, the officer died. But a discreet investigation at the hospital confirmed the policeman was brought in dead.
“Also, a check at the mortuary where the corpse was kept, revealed that the deceased had cuts on his neck, bruises around his body and his lower region, suggesting that he was killed.
“Now the Police authorities in Lagos are secretly reaching out to us to hurriedly bury the corpse by next weekend in Otukpa, without telling us what actually killed the gallant officer. The Lagos State command has printed posters for his obituary and released a signal to that effect.”
One of the family sources continued that the wife of the deceased is a police officer too, from Edo state and may not want to make issues with the police authorities where she serves.
But the source noted that a petition had been submitted to the office of the member representing the deceased constituency and the senator representing his senatorial district at the National Assembly.
“If nothing is done urgently, the body of this innocent man who gave his all to serve this country but was betrayed by his colleagues, would just be taken to Otukpa next weekend and buried like a chicken.
“I’m calling on all well meaning Nigerians, even if you’re not from Benue, to rise to this occasion and demand for autopsy and thorough investigation into the death of this young breadwinner.
“This is not the first Police officer that would be killed and brought home to bury in our locality, without knowing the source of their deaths,” one of the family sources said.
“I’m calling on lawyers, CSOs and good spirited individuals from Benue, especially our political leaders, to stand up and demand justice for this young man.
“I can imagine the pains the wife and children would be passing through now. And no one is talking about this, until he is buried like a chicken next week,” the source added.