Mudiaga Affe, Calabar
The family of late Ekong Omin, a former village head of Ikot-Abenyo community, in the Calabar Municipality Local Government Area of Cross River State, on Wednesday accused the police of shileding his killers.
The family’s lawyer, Mr. Ayei Okpa, expressed surprise that suspects arrested in connection with the murder had yet to be charged to court since the incident happened on February 26, 2017.
He urged the police to ensure that those behind the killing were brought to book.
Okpa said, “The police should get to the crux of the matter, especially as we learnt that some of the suspects have made confessional statements.
“We are not satisfied with what is going on. We expect from the authorities fair judgement and nothing short of professionalism.
“Our brother was a peaceful and just man. We are shocked that he could be slaughtered in such a gruesome manner and the police would let the suspects to get off the hook.”
Okpa, in a written appeal to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa, asked that the suspects should be prosecuted without any further delay.
The counsel for the aggrieved family claimed that the village head was murdered on the day he was scheduled to report to the Monitoring Squad of the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja to testify in a case involving one of his kinsmen.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, denied allegations that the police had compromised the case.
She said the command was making efforts to get to the root of the matter.
“The command is doing everything humanly possible to ensure that suspects involved in criminal matters are properly investigated and prosecuted in accordance with the law of the land,” she said.
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