By Sam Tyav, Makurdi
Crisis is brewing in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, as civil society groups and rights bodies plan a major protest for next week in the wake of the alleged murder of a female undergraduate by the police on Friday, May 16.
As tension rose over the matter, the new Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr Emenari Ifeanyi, ordered investigation into the death.
The deceased was identified as Emmanuella Ahenjir, a student of Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State who was shot at Wurukum, in Makurdi.
However, a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benue State Command, Sewuese Catherine Anene, gave an official account of the incident.
Anene revealed that at about 4am, a radio message was received from a police team deployed at Duku park, Wurukum, that the team flagged down a vehicle coming from Benue Links axis, but that the driver turned back, drove through the opposite lane and began shooting sporadically at the team.
The account said the team returned fire with a shot, adding that the driver subsequently escaped.
The spokesperson disclosed that the police were on the trail of the vehicle until about “10am when information was received that a lady named Emmanuella Ahenjir, student of Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State had died at Benue State University Teaching Hospital from a gunshot.”
The statement continued: “Upon arrival at the hospital, the detectives were briefed about the deceased and corpses deposited at the hospital morgue for autopsy. One Apase Keghter who was also an occupant of the vehicle was seen at the hospital and invited for questioning.
“Mr. Apase stated that they had gone for club activities at Newcastle Event Centre and were on their way back when they drove on the opposite lane and passed the (police) checkpoint without stopping, but did not shoot.
“They were shot by the police but they drove to Welfare Quarters with the victim. They stopped when they noticed a flat tyre and called a commercial vehicle that took them to the hospital.
“His belongings, the exhibit car and other occupants of the said vehicle are nowhere to be found at the moment.”
According to the police spokesperson, CP Ifeanyi in ordering detailed investigation into the case, has assured friends and family of the deceased of his commitment to unravel the truth and ensure that the weight of the law prevails.
Nonetheless, findings in Makurdi show that
the death has generated tension in the State capital.
Another account said that the student went on an outing with some friends and were returning home at about 4am.
According to the account, on getting to Wurukum Roundabout, they ran into a police roadblock (checkpoint).
However, the driver of the car conveying them decided to ply the other side of the road without stopping, when police operatives reportedly flagged down the vehicle for a routine check.
According to sources, it was at that point that one of the officers in the team allegedly fired a shot at the car, hitting the student, who later died.
As news of the death spread, palpable anger began to engulf the city with groups mobilizing for a public showdown, if justice was not done in the matter.
The groups specifically demanded that the alleged killer police officer be identified and punished in accordance with the law.
Human rights activist, Ukan Kurugh, for instance, insisted that, when they exhaust all due process to get justice, if the police continued to ignore them, the civil society would switch to a different approach.
