Widow of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officer, Ogah Jumbo, who was allegedly beaten to death on Wednesday in Abuja, has narrated how two policemen murdered her late husband.
The woman, Ada Ogah, claimed the father of her children was dragged on the ground by the traffic warden officers at Nyanya area of Abuja.
According to her, the deceased sustained broken fingernails and bruises on his toes when he was dragged on the ground.
Narrating the story to Punch correspondent on Thusday, she said the traffic wardens hit her husband 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.
