Woman seeks justice over son’s alleged killing by policemen

An employee of the Edo State Centre for Community Development, Mrs. Osas Okungbowa Momodu, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to investigate the alleged killing of her only son by some policemen.

Her son, Ibrahim Momodu, a 500-level student in the department of Science Laboratory Technology of the University of Benin, was reportedly shot dead by the police last Wednesday night along Textile Mill Road, Benin City.

In the petition, mother of the victim urged the police boss to urgently look into the killing and bring those responsible to justice.

She said her son was shot dead by policemen attached to Ogida Police Station on trumped-up allegation of armed robbery.”

The petition read: “It might suffice you to know that when I went to the station after I called my son’s GSM number on that fateful day, the police gave a conflicting version of how he was killed”.
“The police referred to my son as a commercial bus driver while my son could not even drive a car. The motorcycle which my son boarded was impounded, while the whereabouts of the motorcyclist remain unknown.”

“It is my candid prayer that you launch an unbiased investigation into the killing of Ibrahim Momodu and bring the culprits to justice,” she said.

Mrs. Momodu said she was told by sympathisers at the scene that the police ran away after killing her son, only to return the following morning to collect his corpse for burial.
She said a policeman told her at the State Police Headquarters that her son was killed during a shoot-out and that the motorcyclist escaped with bullet wounds.

Meanwhile, students and members of civil societies in the state have mobilised to protest the killing in major streets of Benin City today.

Executive Director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Rev David Ugolor, who condemned the killing, said a formal petition would be written for a panel of inquiry to be set up to investigate where the victim allegedly robbed and for the police to release the pathology report.
State Police spokesman, DSP Moses Eguaveon, a Deputy Suprentendet (DSP), could not be reached for comments at press time.

The Nation