Outrage Over Death Inside NNPC Office In PH
5 min read
Edith CHUKU
Family of 23 year old Asher Christopher Dan has called on the Rivers State Police command to as a matter of immediacy commence investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of their son.
Lending their voice, the National Coordinator of Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, Mr Prince Wiro, has also called for a thorough investigation in the matter to ascertain what really happened.
Christopher, a native of Akwa Ibom State, was reported to have died on Tuesday inside the Nigeria National Petroleum Company NNPC, office building located at Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
Expressing shock over the incident, father of the deceased, Mr. Christopher Dan Umanah told newsmen on Thursday that he was yet to see the corpse of his son.
He explained that “day before yesterday (on Tuesday) around 4:15pm, my son the junior one called me that somebody called him, I said who is that person, he said his senior brother, that is my son Asher Christopher Dan colleague called him that he should come to Old GRA Police station, that he should come with me that the Police need me.
“I asked what really happened, my son said he don’t know, I said okay I will go there, so when I got to the Police station, I asked where is Asher Christopher I heard that the boy is here, they searched they did not see my son’s name, I had to ask my son again, he now called Asher’s colleague again, he said it’s old GRA Police station, that I should come to Surveillance office, that he will take me to the surveillance office at Old GRA Police station.
“I went there, I waited for the Police, I didn’t see any but I see other people, the cleaners inside there, I now asked where is my son Asher, they said he is coming, they said he is in the cell, I asked what happened, they said I should wait till Police comes.
“The Police did not come until the time I wanted to go home, around 7pm, I said I had to go home, I can’t wait, because I don’t even know why I am here, nobody told me what is going on, I have not even seen my son.
“When I went down, one of the Policewomen called me that I should come back tomorrow Wednesday, which was yesterday by 3:00.
“I went back there yesterday, the Police took me, my wife and my son with other people to the company where my son is doing work; NNPC upstream and down stream, at Moscow road.
“So when we reached there I asked them where the boy from fall, they said nobody really know whether he fall from the two storey building or three storey building or floor five, six, seven or the last the last floor.
“I asked them how the boy look like, they said he is with empty body. So I asked them to show me the place, they showed me the place. I have picture of the place that we snapped, looked the place, there is no sign that somebody fell from up, is something that somebody will use either hard iron to break the pipe, so I said they should tell me what happened to my son before he fell.
“I asked of his cloth they said nobody saw the cloth that they searched everywhere but when I entered there, I went to the 4th floor which they already told me that he fell from 4th floor, when I reached the 4th floor they arranged his slippers, I still have the picture, the arranged his slippers together with the cloth and kept it one place, I snapped it, so I told them that I want to see the boy’s corpse to confirm if is my son or not.
“The Police took us back and took us to the mortuary at Npokwu, reaching there the Police did not allow me to see my boy, the Police man told me that he is the one that brought my boy to this place that if he says I will not see my son that I will not see him.
“I need help, I want Justice and I want to see my son’s corpse too. How can somebody die for over twenty-four hours they won’t allow the parents to see his corpse where does that happen. When my son died before taking him to anywhere they are supposed to invite his parents but for over 24 hours nobody invited me.”
It is believed that the deceased is a contract staff (cleaner) that does cleaning work in NNPC.
On his part, the National Coordinator of Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, Mr Prince Wiro queried why the incident was not reported to Central Police Station(CPS) in charge of the jurisdiction by the company.
He called on the Rivers state Commissioner of Police to wade into the incident by ordering transfer of the case file to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department Port Harcourt saddled with responsibility of investigating culpable homicide.
Wiro said, “we have met with the parents of Christopher Asher. We demand a thorough investigation into what led to the death of the young man.
“We are still wondering why the matter was not reported to Central Police station CPS, In-charge of that area rather the matter was reported to a surveillance unit located inside Old GRA Police station that is suspected not to be under Rivers State Police command.
“We use this medium to call on the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu to wade into this matter and direct that the case file be transferred to state criminal investigation and intelligence department for thorough investigation.
Meanwhile the spokesperson for Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko was yet to respond to enquiry as at the time of filing this report.
