Widow demands N1b over alleged killing of husband by police

• Panel flays police for dishonouring invitation

AWIDOW and mother of four children, Mrs. Cecilia Oguzie, at the weekend, demanded N1billion as compensation at the Imo Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Police Brutality and Extra- Judicial Killings, presided over by Justice Florence Duruoha- Igwe ( rtd).

Mrs. Oguzie had narrated to the panel at its 44th sitting how her husband, the late Jude Oguzie, was allegedly shot to death by some policemen at a checkpoint in Orodo, along Owerri- Orlu Road, Imo State, on his way to see his sick old mother in Amucha, Njaba Council of Imo State.

She also told the panel that the corpse of her late husband was yet to be released to the family for burial since December 5, 2020, the incident took place.

According to the petitioner, her husband on

December 2020 was flagged down in his vehicle by the policemen and was asked to produce his vehicle particulars, which the deceased obliged, saying that in the process, one of the policemen shot her husband and they ran away, disclosing that he died before he could be taken to the Federal Medical Centre ( FMC), Owerri.

She, therefore, claimed N1 billion as compensation as a result, saying: “Police shot and killed my husband. I came here because I want to obtain justice. I have four children who no one is there to take care of. He was the only son of his surviving mother.”

EANWHILE, in her reaction, Chairman of the panel, Duruoha- Igwe, decried the failure of the police authorities to produce the three policemen involved in the shooting allegation despite the summons by her panel.

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