Gov Oshiomole orders investigation into death of hotel staff in police custody

Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomole has ordered a full scale investigation into the death of Chibuike Edeh, a staff of Protea hotel in Benin city, Edo state, who was arrested for stealing N48,000 belonging a guest at the hotel on March 14th. He later died in police custody.

Gov Oshiomole gave the charge while receiving the family members of the young man who staged a protest at the government house yesterday March 18th. Read previous story here and continue...

Speaking to the family, Oshiomhole said;

"Let me thank you for coming to Government House to lay your complaint in a very peaceful manner in spite of the pains in your heart and the gruesome murder of your son, your brother and our comrade. I read about this yesterday and the impression I was given was that he was handed over to the Police. Whether or not the young man was a thief, whether or not the money was found on him or he threw it across the wall is not the issue. There is law. There is procedure to be followed to investigate alleged stealing, even alleged murder. The police can listen to complaint from anyone who has cause to complain or report theft or any crime or suspected crime to the police. The responsibility of the police stops at arresting and investigating a suspect. They do not have the right to kill, to maim, to brutalize and to murder anybody. That is not acceptable. The responsibility of the police in our constitution is very clear; to protect lives and property and they are law enforcement agencies, they are not to execute people who are suspected of crimes. They are to arraign suspects in court and ensure that suspects are prosecuted according to our laws. I have received since yesterday various accounts about whether or not this person died in the police custody, whether he died of natural causes or he died as a result of police torture or whether he died in the cause of allegedly trying to escape and he was knocked down by a vehicle. I will raise these issues with the Commissioner. If somebody runs across the road and a vehicle knocks him down, the vehicle will be apprehended and the driver will be known so it cannot be an unknown vehicle or driver.‎ I do understand that when we talk of police custody, they call it protective custody. The police are to protect suspects and they are deemed innocent until they are found guilty by a competent court and police cannot constitute itself into a court of law and even if a judge finds a man guilty of murder and sentences him to death, he cannot be executed except the governor approves of the death sentence so the laws are very clear. However, the issues for us to find out are whether this person died in police custody and if he escaped how he escaped from police custody because he wasn’t reported to be an armed robber. He was said to be at the very worst, that he stole money from somebody, he was not armed with any offensive weapon and so no one can say he was running and he was shot, so we will find out” Oshiomhole said.

In a related development, the Edo state Police command has released a statement denying that Chibuike died in their custody but says he was involved in a fatal accident after he decided to run when he was caught for  stealing. The statement in part reads;

"On March 14, 2015, the police went with him (Chibuike) with a view to recovering the exhibit, but on getting to the scene, the suspect took to his heels. In the process, he ran into a moving Toyota Camry with registration number, FUG 93 JD (EDO), driven by one Obamedo Omoregie. The vehicle dragged the suspect from Central Road to 1st East Circular Road, along Sapele Road, before it came to a halt. The suspect sustained bruises on his body, he was immediately rushed to UBTH with the assistance of some Good Samaritans, where he eventually died. The driver of the car has been arrested for causing the death of the suspect, while the car is impounded and the photograph is hereby attached.”

The father of Chibuike, Mr Raphael Edeh, has however described the Police claims as false.

"I don’t believe that he died in an accident. As a suspect in police custody, he must have been handcuffed and held by the policeman who accompanied him. So, running away would have been difficult. He must have been tortured, and the car accident was used as a camouflage. Only God knows the truth" he said.