CONTRARY to claims that policemen were not
present at the execution scene of the four University of Port Harcourt
(UNIPORT) students in Umuokiri-Aluu community about one and a half weeks ago,
one of the arrested suspects has placed a policeman among the executioners.
One of the 13 suspects paraded to
journalists in Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, David Ugbaje, while answering
questions from journalists, said he saw two policemen, one of who joined in
beating the victims.
According to him, he was told the
victims were robbers and that they were going to rob at 9, Coca Cola Street,
Umuo-kiri-Aluu, which happened to be his compound.
He said further that one of the
victims was his customer, as he is a shoemaker, adding that he would not allow the
mob to kill them in his compound, though he hit the victims twice.
“I saw a crowd beating four boys. I
ask who are the four men being beaten and they said they were armed robbers. I
said what happened in the com-pound, they said they are going to 9, Coca cola
Street in Umuokiri-Aluu. I said ok, it is my compound, let us go and see the
person whether he is their member. Or let them point at the particular person
they are going to look for.
“Along the line, two policemen came
around. One of them was pleading, the other one even joined in the beating.
After beating the boy, the police now asked that they hand over the boy over to
them,” Ugbaje said.
Two other suspects were allowed to
speak to journalists, one of who also admitted to joining in beating the victims.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner
of Police, Mohammed Indabawa, who spoke to journalists during the parade of the
suspects, said the command arrested two more suspects on Monday afternoon.
He said the police were forced to
parade the suspects because of the interest the crime had generated.
Those paraded included the
traditional ruler of Umuokiri village, Alhaji Hassan Welewa; Lawal Segun, Lucky
Orji, Cynthia Chinwo, Ekpe Daniel, George Nwadei, Gabriel Oche and Ozioma
Abajuo.
Others were Chigozie Evans Samuel;
Endu-rance Edet; Uwem Sam-pson Akpabio; Ugbaje and Ikechukwu Louis Amadi
(alias Capon).