Ada, the wife of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps officer, Ogah Jumbo, who was allegedly beaten to death by two traffic wardens in Nyanya, Abuja, on Wednesday, has said the deceased was dragged on the ground till he died.
Ada stated that her husband sustained broken
fingernails and bruises on his toes when he was dragged on the ground
by the traffic wardens, who assaulted him.
The widow told a Punch
correspondent onThusday that the traffic wardens hit Ogah on the head
several times with batons after which he was dragged on the ground for
about a kilometre to the police station where he gave up the ghost.
It
was learnt that the Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police,
Bala Ciroma, had ordered the detention of the police personnel involved
in the incident.
The wife, who witnessed the encounter alongside
her two children, refuted reports that her husband was driving against
the traffic.
According to her, the late Assistant Superintendent
of the NSCDC, who was attached to the Sharia Court in Abuja, was taking
her to the Gloryland International School, Karu, where she works as a
teacher, when the incident happened.
She said, “We were going to
Karu from New Nyanya, but on getting to the Catholic church, we
diverted. A traffic warden stopped the vehicles on the other side and
asked vehicles on our side to move, but when it got to our turn, he
stopped our car and my husband pleaded with him that he was late for
work.
“The traffic warden retorted that it was not his business,
because he was not the cause of the traffic jam. He stood in front of
the vehicle and said my husband wanted to hit him with the car.
“He
kicked the vehicle and went to the driver’s side and was pulling my
husband out of the vehicle. His (the traffic warden’s) colleague, Mr
Idoko, also joined him and they were beating my husband with batons. I
alighted from the vehicle and pleaded with them.
“They (traffic
wardens) dragged my husband on the ground to their station. If you see
his body in the mortuary, you will notice that his fingernails were
chopped off and he bled to death.”
Ada added that while her
husband was being taken away by the policemen, she went back to the
vehicle to fetch the car key and his phones.
“By the time I got
to their station, I found my husband sitting on the ground and unable to
talk. All the policemen were insulting him, saying, ‘You are a stupid
man; we hate civil defence corps officers, they are too stubborn’. They
killed my husband in my presence, leaving me to cater for two children
alone,” she noted.
The teacher explained that the policemen were
not willing to take Ogah to the hospital, on the excuse that their
vehicles had no fuel, adding that the deceased was not accepted at the
Nyanya General Hospital, where they eventually took him to after a long
delay.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the FCT
Command, Ciroma, has visited the NSCDC office to commiserate with the
operatives over Ogah’s death.
The NSCDC spokesman, David
Akinbinu, said in a statement that the CP disclosed that the errant
policemen had been detained, adding that investigation had also
commenced.
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