The Civil Liberties Organisation has called on the police to commence probe into the circumstances surrounding the death of a taxi driver in Enugu State, Mr. Chukwuma Ihezie.
The CLO said the demand had become imperative following complaints from the family that their son, who was arrested over trumped-up charges, died in the cell of Special Anti-robbery Squad few days later.
The victim, a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, became a commercial driver as an alternative due to lack of employment.
In a petition to the Commissioner of Police in the state, which was made available to journalists on Monday, the CLO wondered why the police should kill the suspect instead of charging him to a court of competent jurisdiction if they felt he was guilty of the offence for which he was arrested.
The family of the deceased had alleged that he was murdered in cold blood while still in detention in the SARS cell, after his arrest on January 12, 2014.
The letter, signed by Mr. Paul Uwadiegwu, on behalf of the CLO in Enugu State, read in part, “Mr. Chinedu Ihezie informed CLO that on January 12, 2014, the deceased who is his younger brother, Mr.
Chukwuma Ihezie was on his usual duty as cab driver and was hired by a man he did not know to take him to his destination in one of the hotels known and called Media Royal Hotel located somewhere at the Independence Layout Enugu.
“After waiting for some lengthy time, he began to hear ‘hold him, hold him, he is a thief’. When he saw his passenger being dragged out from the hotel, he decided to turn his vehicle, on the process, he was arrested.
“Mr. Chukwuma Ihezie, was detained in the SARS Cell for six days before contact was made to his relations. The deceased while still alive, was taken to his resident located along Concrete Avenue for searching of his house.
“Mr. Chinedu Ihezie, reliably informed us that after the searching, the police did not get anything incriminating or weaponry that could be used as evidence against his brother.
The CLO was reliably informed that the police did not succeed in reaching out to anything that could link Chukwuma Ihezie as an armed robber, but they took away his lap-top, probably to examine if he has any link to other criminals.”
