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- Alleges indiscriminate arrest of family members
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The family of Late Mrs. Stella Odogwu, in Omoku Town, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, has expressed concerns over alleged intimidation by men of the Nigeria Police Force from the Force Headquarters, Abuja, over the corpse of their mother, that has since been buried.
Members of the family of the deceased said they have not been at rest following continued intimidation by the police after the burial, adding that the police have continually maintained their disregard to orders of court on the matter.
One of the daughters of the deceased, Carole Odogwu-Umeda, who spoke on the matter, disclosed that the police arrested her, alleging that she and other of her siblings stole the remains of their mother.
Carole disclosed that the last child of their parents had insisted to bury the remains of their mother alone, but that the family said it must be a joint thing as the tradition of their people demands.
She noted that while the burial was on, the last child of their mother, who she claimed is being sponsored by a politician in the state, allegedly interested in buying off the property of their late mother, came with police and arrested her (Carole) and some persons.
She narrated: “We had reported a matter of burglary and stealing of our late mother’s property to Alakahia Police Division. They (Police) said they cannot handle it because somebody from the control room had informed them that it is a family matter.
“But at the police station, one who claimed to be my IPO said I would be detained, that when my other IPO from Abuja comes that I will be better briefed, that my younger sister filed in a petition that our mother’s corpse was missing. I was shocked because I know that our mother’s corpse was not missing, it was buried and she (complainant) knows.
“He said I am a suspect in the crime. I was unlawfully detained for six days over my mother’s corpse. We have been traumatised over the attitude of police. Police have been intimidating us despite court orders that we should not be arrested.
“We are calling for justice, for the past one month now. We have been harassed. The police have kept on harassing us. In our home, police have been chasing us. We are calling on the Inspector General of Police, President Bola Tinubu and Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, to help us.”
Also, elder sister to the late Stella, Ureh Akidu, cried that she has been stranded in Port Harcourt since she came into the state from Lagos to participate in the burial of her younger sister, noting that police arrested and maltreated her.
Akidu said: “I feel terrible about what is happening. I don’t have rest of mind since I came to bury my younger sister. This is five months now. She is my junior sister. I only came to bury her. They want to kill me.
“All the children agreed that their mother will be buried at her house in the village, which is right. But, the last child, insisted that their mother must be buried on a land the woman gave out to church.
“Some days to the burial, she came and arrested me and other persons to Abuja. She kept us there until my sister that I came to burial was buried on 13th of Decembers, 2023.
“Let the police leave us alone. It is not a bad thing that I came to bury my sister. Police do not want to obey what court has said. What else will somebody do when her sister dies? I only came to bury her; I did not commit any crime.”
However, counsel for the family, Ejimofor Idam, while addressing the press on the development, vowed that the family would move the court to issue a warrant of arrest on all the police hierarchies in Abuja, over the disregard to orders of court on the family matter.
Idam disclosed that Justice A T. Mohammed of a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had on the 29th of December, made an order stopping the police from arresting or inviting any member of the family on the said burial of late Stella Odogwu pending the hearing and determination of the matter before it.
He noted that the same court had on the 11th of January, made another order that police should release the suspects arrested against its earlier order, but regretted that the police have flouted all the orders of court.
The counsel wondered while the police that should protect and implement the law were the same people destroying the law, adding that the family would have no other option than to move the court to take action against the police.
Idam said: “It is an issue of disobedience to court order by the police. We thought that this was a family matter and should be handled as a civil matter and not criminal.
“We had applied for an Exparte Order stopping police from interfering in a Civil family matter or arresting, or inviting the family members. The court said the parties should maintain status quo. On the 29th of December, we got this order. On the second, we sent out the order to Abuja and on the fourth Police in Abuja was served.
“Even after service the police are still arresting the family members. On the 5th of January, we informed the court of the disobedience, the court made another order that the police must bring the family members to court on or before the 11th January. Even on this they still refused to release our client.
“We are going to move the court issue warrant of arrest to police if this situation persists because it is a crime to disobey the order of court. It is frustrating our clients. My clients are not sleeping at night. They are afraid that they could be arrested and taken to Abuja.”
