Concerned indigenes of Ikabigbo community in the Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State have appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Baba Usman, to order an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of their son, Sergeant Zekeri Dauda, who was serving at the state police command headquarters in Benin.
Zekeri, who was attached to the Criminal Investigation Department, was on official duty with his colleagues last Saturday, but reportedly died in an accident on the Benin-Auchi bypass.
Addressing journalists in Benin on Monday on behalf of the community, the immediate past Secretary to the Etsako West Local Government Council, Zibiri Mohammed, said his colleagues called the family members on Saturday that Zekeri died in an accident during official duty on Benin-Auchi bypass.
“We mobilised to the station and met the three other officers, whom he went on the official duty with, but sustained no injury in the accident, which resulted in bursting of the skull of our son,” he stated.
Mohammed said the discovery raised questions and suspicion about the claims of his colleagues, who did not have any scratch on their bodies.
He stated, “Upon questioning, the colleagues explained that the accident happened while they were on duty along Benin/Auchi bypass, but when asked about his phone, they couldn’t produced it, which raised further suspicion coupled with the minimal impact on the vehicle that was involved in the accident that resulted in a broken skull.
“On a proper inspection of the vehicle, we saw that the two tyres on the driver’s side were blood stained and also a whitish substance that appeared to be part of the content of the broken skull.”
He said on calling the deceased’s mobile phone, someone answered and said he picked it up at the GT junction, adjacent the Ambrose Alli University College of Medicine, Ekpoma, where the accident might have occurred.
Mohammed added, “We have recovered the phone from the person at Ekpoma, who also gave us more revelation that it was not an accident, but a clear case of murder by his colleagues.
“We are appealing to the state police commissioner, AIG Zone 5 headquarters, Benin, and the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the matter to unravel the circumstances surrounding our son’s death.”
When contacted, the state police command spokesman, Kontongs Bello, said the cop was killed by a hit-and-run driver.
He added that other policemen involved in the accident were currently receiving treatment in hospital.
Bello added that the family of the deceased cop had a right to protest his death.