SaharaReporters had reported how the deceased was arrested on Wednesday, February 8.
The chairman of the Ekpan Development Committee, Mr Stephen Akemu has died after been “shot, abducted and detained illegally” by police operatives in Delta State.
SaharaReporters had reported how the deceased was arrested on Wednesday, February 8.
It was however gathered that the police acted on the directives of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sheriff Oborevwhori.
According to an eyewitness, the police operatives shot him along Warri/Sapele Road and whisked him away to an undisclosed location.
The Commissioner of Police in Delta State, according to members of the community, was allegedly being used as a tool to eliminate anybody standing in the way of the PDP in the state.
“PDP in Delta State, Governor Okowa and the candidates of PDP in these elections are terrible people.
“He was shot and taken to police station all because he was supporting APC. The police under the instructions of Okowa has murdered him extrajudicially,” a source told SaharaReporters.
In December 18, 2022, SaharaReporters reported that Governor Okowa was accused by some leaders of the community of using the police to clamp down on members of the opposition from the area.
According to the leaders in a letter to the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), in the almost eight years that Okowa had been the state governor, opposition members in the community had been subjected to a sustained campaign of criminal assault, destruction of property, multiple murders, kidnapping and intimidation.
Okowa is the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP for the 2023 election.
The community leaders alleged that several persons had been murdered, kidnapped, or rendered homeless after being forced to escape or relocate from their homes and go into exile.
The letter read, “This horrendously naked display of raw political power by the PDP-led administration, both at the state level in general and the Uvwie Local Government Area in particular has resulted in several persons being murdered, kidnapped, rendered homeless and/or forced to escape/relocate out of their native indigenous homes and go into exile out of the Ekpan Community, Uvwie Local Government Area. The perpetrators of these activities which we shall narrate in fuller detail are well-known to us.
“They include I. Late Lawrence Ngozi Ijie, II. Uvwie Ejeneye, III. Daniel Ighedo, IV. Joseph Uvwaye Alias Uruere, V. Ramson Onoyake, VI. Efe Best, VII. Victory Nanakparo, VIII. Patricia Usolo, IX. Gabriel Ariuruje, X. Caris Ariuruje, XI. Onajite Awinoron, XII. Newyear Iffie, XIII. Newton Onaodowan, XIV. Matthew Emewakeme, XV. Isaac Etigbenaye (Oshegudu), XVI. Shedrach Ighedo and XVII. Joseph Ukwesa.
“Most of these persons are political appointees or elected officials of the PDP-led Government in Uvwie Local Government and Delta State. We have caused several complaints to be made about their activities to all the formations of the Nigerian Police from the Divisional Police Station up to the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Police Command all to no avail.
“They have turned deaf ears to our cries and have refused to arrest or even investigate the numerous complaints we have made to them over the years about the specific acts of liminality perpetrated by these persons with the ostensible authority of the Delta State Government.
“The siege still continues to date. It is sustained, unrelenting, strategically executed and clearly directed at eliminating all perceived or real opposition to the ruling party in Delta State as soon as possible.
“Ekpan community is a very big community with a population of about 500,000 persons. It plays host to the Warri Refinery and many other oil companies and oil service companies. The community is very strategic in the political and social calculations of Delta State as a whole. The undersigned, who are all community leaders, as well as many other indigenes of Ekpan, who look up to them for leadership number (are) in their thousands.
“One of us, Chief Victor Otomiewo was the Unuevworo (Traditional Duke in charge) of Ekpan community. Later, because of its large size, Ekpan community was split into four areas and Chief Victor Otomiewo still heads one of these sections of the community. Together with some of the other undersigned as well as other traditional leaders in the community, we ensure that the framework that keeps the community peaceful is kept intact.
“If Ekpan community is completely destabilized as desired by these hoodlums, the unfortunate level of criminality that would overwhelm the community and spill into the neighbouring communities, including Warri and Effurun is better imagined than experienced.”
Meanwhile, the police have charged the deceased and others to court. In the court papers, the police confirmed that Ekemu is dead.
They were all accused of attempting to kidnap one Joseph Ovokpo Okwesa.
The court document reads, “That you, Marshal Jessah ‘m’, Abubakar Jafaru ‘m’ and Supreme Adams ‘m’ and Stephen Akemu a.k.a Astone now deceased and others now at large, on the 3rd day of December, 2022 at Ekpan within the Ekpan Magisterial District but triable in the Asaba Magisterial District did conspire among yourself to commit felony to wit: Attempted Kidnapping and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(d) and punishable under Section 4(1) of the Delta State Anti- Kidnapping Law, 2016.
“COUNT II: That you, Marshal Jessah ‘m’, Abubakar Jafaru ‘m’ and Supreme Adams ‘m’ and Stephen Akemu a.k.a Astone now deceased and others now at large, on the same date and place within the aforementioned Magisterial District did attempt to kidnap one Joseph Ovokpo Okwesa ‘m’ and thereby committed punishable under Section 8 of the Delta State Anti-Kidnapping Law, 2016.”
When contacted, Bright Edafe, Delta police spokesperson told SaharaReporters that he wasn’t aware of the incident.
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