Policemen kill engineer at checkpoint

Some policemen have allegedly shot dead an engineer, Chinedu Uzor, during an altercation at a checkpoint in Sperando Junction, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the leader of the police team, Inspector Agbo Onwe, had been arrested and detained at the command headquarters, Abakaliki.

Our correspondent gathered that on Sunday, July 19, Uzor, a mechanical engineer, was returning from a club with a friend, whose name had yet to be identified, when they got to a checkpoint at the Presco area.

It was learnt that 33-year-old Uzor reportedly zoomed past the policemen but stopped at another checkpoint at Sperando Junction.

It was learnt that the policemen at Presco, however, came after him to Sperando and shot him in the head and chest. A witness was said to have contacted the family, after which he rushed the engineer to a nearby hospital where he died.



Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Uzor’s wife, Nkiruka, said she was expecting her husband on Sunday when she was called on the telephone that he had been shot and hospitalised.

She said, “They were two in the vehicle. They were returning from a social club in the area. It was not his first time of going. His custom was to drop his friends, who were not mobile, to their respective houses.

“On that Sunday, I called his phone, but he did not pick. I called another person who was at the meeting; he said they just dispersed. It was not up to an hour that a man called me from a hospital and asked whether I knew a man, Chinedu. I replied that he was my husband.

“He said my number was his last call, and he was now in the hospital. So, I went there. But he was injured badly, and minutes later, he died. I want justice on this matter. I am a university student. He has aged parents that he cared for. We do not have any child yet.”

An eyewitness said Uzor’s head was blown open by the bullets and his brain tissues spilled out.

He said, “The man was driving back home, and he saw those men dressed in mufti flagging him to stop. For fear that they might be robbers, he did not stop. When he got to another checkpoint where uniformed policemen were, he felt safe to stop.

“While he was explaining himself to the officers, the guys in mufti from Presco arrived and shot him on his head at close range. He was rushed to a specialist hospital where he died.”

The Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer, Anyanwu Chibuike, confirmed the arrest of Onwe, adding that the matter was being investigated at the State Department of Criminal Investigations.

He said, “The state command will not cover up any form of such action. There was a similar incident some time ago, and the policeman involved is now in prison. In this particular incident, the leader of the team is in detention.

“The bullets have been retrieved, and they are being subjected to ballistic forensic investigations. The case is being investigated at the SCID. It is unfortunate.”