Family accuses LG Chairman of ordering undergraduate's killing

Family accuses LG Chairman of ordering undergraduate's  killing

The family of Augustine Ugwu, a final year law student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over the circumstances that led to the death of their son.

The family, through the legal firm of Da Sphinix Legal Practitioners and solicitors, urged the IG to bring everybody involved in the death of Augustine to justice.

In the petition addressed to the IG, the family accused the officer in-charge of the local vigilante group, the Nsukka Anti-Cult, DSP Ochin Nnamdi, of killing Augustine on the instructions of the Chairman of the Nsukka Local Government Council, Enugu State, Patrick Omeje.

According to the family, Augustine had on April 23, 2020, gone to a pub on Odobido Street, Nsukka, in company with two of his friends when armed men from the Anti-Cultism Unit stormed there and arrested him.

The family alleged that Nnamdi shot Augustine dead upon arrival at the station.

The petition read in part, “On April 23, 2020, Augustine went to drink with two of his friends in a shop on Odobido Street, Nsukka, where one man, Emeka Ogbu, alias Mekeke, is the manager. In a swift action that happened not so long after they entered, a team of armed men in a black Toyota Sienna minivan with the inscription, Anti-Cult Nsukka Local Government, came and all the occupants came down from the vehicle with different guns: pump action and revolvers.

“One Oliver Ozioko, alias Oliver Plaza, led them and wielded a pump action in his hands and acting like a Rambo, entered the pub and demanded for Austin, as the victim was popularly called, but the shop manager demanded an explanation but they pointed a gun at him.

“It was noted that the Anti-Cult Nsukka Local Government was set up by Patrick Omeje, the Chairman of Nsukka Local Government, to fight political opposition and suppress people, who one way or the other, disagreed with his style and approach. The personnel act as his attack dogs.

“Augustine agreed to follow the armed men, but at the point of entering the vehicle that brought the men, Oliver pulled the trigger and shot him in the leg, causing him to fall. He was then pulled into the vehicle with his leg shattered by the bullet fired at a close range and driven away.

“People followed them behind as they drove to the anti-cult office headed by DSP Ochin Finian Nnamdi, who on sighting the crowd, chased everybody away, including lawyers, who were in his office to bail some suspects in custody.

“According to the information, DSP Ochin Finian Nnamdi shot and finally killed the boy upon arrival at the anti-cult office in cold blood and without recourse to the due process of the law. He then took him to an unknown mortuary to deposit the corpse.