UMAR MUHAMMED
Four policemen attached to Mararaba Police Station in Nasarawa State were said to have beaten a 23-year-old man, Abel Umoru, to death over his refusal to confess to a crime he claimed he did not commit.
The deceased’s sister, Mrs. Sadait Audu, lamenting the untimely death of her brother, who was a graduate of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, told SUNDAY PUNCH that Umoru was murdered because he refused to confess to a crime he did not commit.
She explained that her brother went for a friend’s birthday party on October 2 (last Sunday) at around 9 pm, when a fight was said to have broken out at the party.
Audu added that the manager of the event centre then alerted policemen at Abacha Road, upon whose arrival Umoru decided to leave to problem.
Instead, according to the deceased’s sister, he was arrested by the policemen.
Weeping, Audu said, “Abel felt the need to know what his offense was. Upon asking, the policemen descended on him and started beating him thoroughly for no reason. Abel pleaded with the policemen that he wasn’t among those who fought, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.”
“The policemen continued with the beating, asking Abel to agree that he was among those who fought and destroyed property at the event. He didn’t agree, so they kept beating him till he died.The next day, they dumped his body in the mortuary.”
But the Police Public Relations Officer in Nasarawa State, Mr. Idirisu Kennedy, in a telephone interview withSUNDAY PUNCH, denied the allegation, saying Umoru was murdered by irate youths in the area while trying to evade arrest.
According to the PPRO, the IPO then raised the alarm, shouting “Thief!” which attracted the mob in the area lynch the suspect. He added that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abubakar Bello, had ordered for the transfer of the case to the Criminal Investigative Department, noting that any officer found guilty would not go scot-free.
Kennedy also said the police IPO who arrested the deceased was being questioned over the incident.
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