The family of Okeke in Obowo Local Government Area of Imo State has written a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to take over the probe on the murder of their daughter.
Ogechi John, resident of Bwari in Bwari Area Council, Abuja, lost her life during a scuffle with her husband, according to the family.
In a petition sighted by Daily Trust, the lady was said to have died hours after she visited her parents based in Jos, Plateau State capital.
Obioma Okeke, the deceased’s sibling who signed the petition, said Ogechi showed no trace of illness when she visited her parents.
“At about 0300 hours on July 10, 2023, I received a call from Mr. EZEAGU JOHN ‘M’, a resident of Bwari in Abuja, who happens to be the husband of Ogechi John, my late sister. He asked me to come over to Abuja from my base in Jos, Plateau State, that my sister was finding it difficult to breathe.”
“The report came to me as a big shock because the two of them visited our family house in Jos, a day earlier and there was no trace that my sister was ill. I asked him several questions concerning the state of my sister’s health and why he reached me at such odd hour, but he ended the call abruptly after insisting that I come over to see her.
“I rushed down to Abuja where the biggest shock of my life was awaiting me. When I got to Abuja, he directed me to Catholic Hospital, Bwari. When I got there, I was expecting to see my sister in one of the wards but surprisingly, I was taken to the mortuary. I asked what happened but he told me that she was just struggling to breathe and he rushed her to the hospital I did not believe she was gone so I insisted on getting a second opinion from another hospital.
“We proceeded to FMC Jabi, Abuja where the doctor certified her dead. I insisted that I wanted an autopsy but their fridge wasn’t in good condition. Since embalmment wasn’t an option, we were referred to the National Hospital, Abuja.
“From there, I moved to Bwari Police Divisional Headquarters to file a formal complaint. The deceased husband was invited over and detained. During detention, he insisted that he knew nothing about the death of my sister and refused to disclose the whereabouts of my sister’s children, five in number.”
The petitioner said the family stood its ground for an autopsy which revealed the cause of the death.
“At the police station, my family resolved for an autopsy to unravel the cause of her death but the suspect’s family kicked against it, saying we should make arrangement for burial, but we went ahead with the process which confirmed our fears that she was strangled.”
Attempts to reach the husband to get his own side of the story did not yield result as the phone line was unreachable.
But when contacted, Police Public Relations Officer, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command, Josephine Adeh, said according to the report she received the husband of the deceased reported at the Bwari police divisional Headquarters that his wife was not breathing well after which she died.
She said the case had been transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) for further investigation to ascertain the cause of her death.
Contacted, the petitioner said, “All we want is for justice to prevail. My sister was a jolly good fellow. She was so full of life a day to her death.
She endured that marriage for 12 years; we advised her to leave the union but she said she wanted to stay back because of her kids. Now she is gone and we can’t even find the kids. We really need justice.”
Ogechi John an Imo State University graduate of Optometrist is from Umuariam in Obowo Imo State