The family of an undergraduate at the Ebonyi State University, Ebube Akah, is asking for justice after a convoy of the state governor, Francis Nwifuru, killed the student.
Ebube was killed alongside a commercial motorcyclist he was riding with in Abakaliki on 1 December.
The deceased student’s older brother, Isidore Akah, said on Friday that the tragic incident occurred on Friday, 1 December, in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Mr Akah in a telephone interview accused the police of a cover up of his brother’s death.
“The governor’s ride that went for school runs for the governor’s children, knocked down Ebube with the bike man, and they both died instantly.”
Augustina Ogbodo, the Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi State, met with members of the Akah family on Monday, but no action had been taken regarding the accident, Mr Akah said.
“The commissioner of police in Ebonyi State is aware of this, but she’s playing to the government’s tune.”
The police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, confirmed the incident.
She, however, did not respond to specific allegations made against the police.
“I am currently in Abuja but I have forwarded your enquiry to the Commissioner of Police. The family of the deceased are already meeting with the commissioner,” Ms Onovwakpoyeya said.
Ebonyi governor, Mr Nwifuru, did not respond to calls and an SMS sent to his mobile phone as of the time of filing this report.
Also, Mr Nwifuru’s media aide, Monday Uzor, did not respond to phone calls or an SMS sent to his mobile phone.
How the accident happened
Mr Akah said Ebube left home on 1 December to get something along Afikpo Road through Onwe Road in Abakaliki metropolis.
Tragedy struck when the motorcycle he boarded was hit by a car in Mr Nwifuru’s convoy that had gone to pick the governor’s children from school.
Both Ebube and the motorcyclist simply identified as Shahabilu, an indigene of Zamfara State, died at the scene of the accident.
“My brother and the commercial motorcyclist died instantly,” Mr Akah said, blaming the accident on the recklessness of the convoy drivers who had taken over the entire lanes on the road.
He said passers-by mobbed one of the drivers involved in the accident, but he was rescued by the police.
Police registered Ebube’s corpse as ‘unknown’
According to the deceased’s family, the police recovered Ebube’s remains but deposited them as “unknown” at the Federal Medical Teaching Hospital morgue in Abakaliki.
“Despite having his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards on him, the police, in a bid to cover up my brother’s death, registered his corpse as unknown at the morgue,” Mr Akah said.
He further accused the police of removing the sim cards from his brother’s phone to prevent any phone calls from the family.
He lamented that the undergraduate’s corpse was found at the morgue on Sunday, 3 December, after two days of fruitless search in the city and beyond.
“We never knew about this until Sunday morning, when we got information that the person we have been looking for had the same looks and the same cloth as the person involved in that accident.
“This Friday makes it one week since my brother was killed, and we are yet to hear from the Governor or anybody from the government knowing full well that the car that knocked him down with the bike belongs to the governor and the government.”
Mr Akah said Ebube’s death has brought immense grief to the family as their widowed mother grapples with high blood pressure, a medical condition caused by their father’s passing in 2021.While Ebube’s remains lie in the morgue, the deceased motorcyclist has since been interred according to Islamic rites in Abakaliki.
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