From Evarest Ezihe, Owerri
The family of Late Levi Opara, aged 46, from Ezedibia, Emekuku in Owerri North Council Area of Imo state, has cried out to the Federal Government, Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun and Governor Hope Uzodimma on the urgent need to prosecute the arrested police officers suspected to be involved in the alleged murder of their father (Levi).
According to one of the daughters of the deceased, Iheoma Opara, who spoke to Journalists in Owerri on Tuesday on behalf of her siblings, likened the delay to prosecute the suspects to deliberate aversion of justice.
According to her, “all we want now is for the Federal government, IGP and Governor Uzodimma, to hasten actions and quickly intervene in the matter so as to ensure justice.
“We are afraid that those blocking the prosecution of the officers involved want to sweep the matter under the carpet”.
Narrating how the incident allegedly happened, Iheoma said their late father was arrested “on Sunday, October 15, 2023, and when we got the information of the arrest, we quickly rushed to the police the next day with our family relatives, where we met our father hale and hearty.
“But, all efforts to secure his release to enable us to resolve the family issue failed as we were asked to come back on Wednesday, October 18, 2023.
“When we came back on Wednesday, we were shocked when the IPO and team leader notified us that my father, who was never sick or suffering from any form of illness the day he was arrested, had died.
“On further inquiries, both the IPO and team leader informed us that he was at the police clinic, but later changed and said his body had already been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre.
“On arrival at the said Federal Medical Centre, we saw the lifeless body of our father, and on closer observation, discovered that my father’s body had several bruises as well as knife cuts on his neck which were hurriedly stitched either before or after his death.
“An autopsy was conducted and the result showed that our father was tortured and starved to death.”
She added that the Police later released the corpse and permitted us to do the burial, but they are deeply in need of justice.
