Puzzle over death of Police Inspector in Ebonyi

Family petitions IGP, NOPRIN

 The family of Police Inspector Michael Udoh Idiong attached to Ishielu Police Station, Ebonyi State Command, who was reportedly killed by a reckless lorry driver on February 19 this year has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase accusing the police and the hospital he was taken to of negligence leading to his death. The incident reportedly happened after an unnamed lorry driver drove recklessly and ran over the middle-aged Inspector while he was on duty with his colleagues. The driver was said to have been detained after the incident but family members to the deceased doubted the claim saying no one saw the suspect in police custody. The family was also expressed disappointment with the reaction of the divisional police officer in-charge of the station to his wounded colleague after the incident. Late Inspector, Michael Udoh Late Inspector, Michael Udoh Son of the deceased speaks Raymond Michael, the deceased Inspector’s son narrated how his father was allegedly killed to Crime Alert. He said, “ At about 6am on the 19th of February, 2016, I saw a missed call from my father’s phone number but I did not immediately call back, hoping that he would call me again. Shortly after, my mother called and told me that someone had also called her with her husband’s (my father’s) phone number and informed her that he had an accident the previous night, and asked if there was anyone in Ebonyi who could come and stay with him at the hospital, as he (the caller) wanted to leave the hospital. Trip to Ebonyi from Calabar “My mother immediately left Calabar for Ebonyi and on getting to my father’s station- Ishielu Police Station, Ebonyi State Command she was taken to Maria Ines Hospital, Umuzoke – Ezillo Abakaliki, where my father was receiving treatment. She met him unconscious, with plasters on his head and a deep cut on his hand. My mother inquired what happened to her husband and how it happened, but she was told ‘you should even thank your God you met him alive.” At Ishielu Police station Raymond further stated that his mother approached the Divisional Police Officer of Ishielu Police Station and he told her that his father had an accident involving a 911 lorry, but failed to offer any explanation as to how the accident happened. He said; “My father regained some consciousness but, could not say what happened to him; he only managed to mumble few incomprehensible words, not relating to what happened to him. On the 22nd of February when the plaster on my father’s head was removed to dress the wound, my mother discovered that he had a stitched deep cut on the head.

Check the Vanguard Newspape for the full story.