Police admits Killing Uniport Student...

The Rivers State Police Command has admitted  to killing a final year student of the University of  Port Harcourt, Oghenekevwe Edah.

It was learnt that the Assistant Commissioner of  Police (Operations), A.A. Muhammed, who  delivered a condolence message to the  deceased’s family on behalf of the state  Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo, promised  that justice would be done in the matter.
This is just as the UNIPORT Student Union  Government threatened to protest against the  police over the recurring killing of students on  the highway.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Tuesday that  Oghenekevwe was returning from a church on  Sunday and was standing at the Assemblies of  God Church Junction, in the Alakahia area of Port Harcourt, when a police van driving against  traffic hit him.
The police were said to have attempted escaping from the scene, but were held by passersby who  compelled them to take the victim to the  University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital,  where he died.
The police were said to have denied killing the  victim, saying they only picked him from the  road after he was knocked down by a vehicle.
     However,it was learnt on Tuesday  that the police had admitted to killing the  student.
His younger brother, Emmanuel Edah, said  Oghenekevwe’s death was painful to the family  because he was their breadwinner.
He said, “I was in Delta State when one of his  roommates called me and said he had been  knocked down by a police van. I was told that he  was coming from the church when the van hit  him and the police wanted to reverse their  vehicle to make it look as if they were on the  right path, but people held them down and  forced them to take him to the hospital.
“I got to the emergency ward of the hospital and  I was told that he was dead.”
He said the victim’s roommate reported the  matter at a police station and he later went to  make an entry as well.
He said the police contacted them on Monday  and the ACP promised to get justice for the  victim.
He said investigation revealed that his brother  was killed by a highway patrol vehicle.
Lamenting the death, Emmanuel said, “We are  seven in my family and two of us are the only  boys. For the past 15 years, he had been doing  professional photography and event coverage.  He took care of us with the money and use the  rest for his education. We want justice and  nothing less. We have decided to follow the case  legally and not take laws into our own hands.”
The SUG President of UNIPORT, David Bariereka,  said the students would stage a protest in the  school.
He said, “We are not going to take it lightly with  the police because we have discovered that he  was killed by a highway patrol van and we have  been able to trace the vehicle.
“We have asked our lawyer to take the matter up and soon, we will be having a protest to show  that we will no longer condone this kind of thing.  On January 1st, we also lost a student on that  road. We are going to use this to remind the  authorities that human life is very precious and  we can no longer be killed like fowls.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP  Ahmad Muhammad, declined further comment  on the case, saying the police wanted to  conclude investigations.
“We want to conclude our investigations, so for  now, we will not say anything again on the  matter,” he said.