The Cross River State Police Command
is investigating the killing of a police constable, Sunday Agida, by a naval
rating identified as Udoette Joseph.
It was learnt that the rating stabbed
Agida to death with bayonet after a heated argument with another person.
The incident occurred along Barracks
road, Calabar. Narrating the incident on Thursday, the pregnant wife of the
deceased, Mercy, said there was no indication on the day that a minor car
accident which happened in front of her shop, involving the vehicle of the
naval rating and a lady could lead to the death of her husband last Sunday.
She said the accident degenerated
into a heated argument between the naval rating and the unidentified lady,
adding that her husband was not even at the scene when it occurred.
Mercy said, “When the accident
between the naval rating and the lady happened at about 10pm, my husband wasn’t
around, but he was on his way to meet me in the shop so that we could go home
together.
“After the accident, the navy man and
the lady started claiming right of way and all efforts to get the matter
settled by passersby proved abortive as the navy man became aggressive.
Eventually, a patrol team from Akim Police came to the scene and took them to
the station.
“Later, my husband came to the shop
to pick me. This was around 11pm and I had closed my shop, but he (my husband)
was talking with a friend who had come with him.
“Suddenly, the naval rating
resurfaced and started harassing the man that was talking with my husband, saying
he was among those who had earlier confronted him when the accident happened.
“But the accusation was false because
my husband’s friend strolled in with him. The accusation started another round
of argument and as soon as my husband intervened, the navy man brought out a
bayonet and stabbed my husband in the stomach.
“He wanted to run after doing that
but passersby, including policemen, apprehended him. But all this did not help
my husband as he was confirmed dead at an hospital about15 minutes later.”
The state Police Public Relations
Officer, Mr. John Umoh, confirmed the incident, saying it was already being
investigated.
The Information Officer in charge of
the Eastern Naval Command, Lieutenant Commander Way Olabisi, said the accused
was indeed a naval rating who was spending his holiday in Calabar.
Olabisi said he would not give details since the
matter was being investigated by the police
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