A leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State and chairman of the Community Development Committee (CDC) of the Kokori community, Mr. Benjamin Ojijevwe, has been killed under questionable circumstances in Warri by policemen attached to the Eagle Eye Squad, a special anti-robbery squad of the Delta State Police Command.
The suspicious killing of Ojijevwe who was also the head of the community vigilance corps generated tension, weekend, in the community. He was arrested in Kokori town, last month, by the police on allegation of robbery and was whisked away to Warri along with four others after three guns belonging to the vigilance group and other items were found in his house.
Delta State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Banawi Ishaku, confirmed the death of Ojijevwe when contacted by Vanguard, weekend, but said the politician made useful confessions to the police in the course of investigations into his robbery escapades, escaped from the vehicle in which he was being taken to the hideout of his gang by the police, and was shot in the process. He added that the corpse had been deposited in the mortuary.
Vanguard called the Commissioner of Police severally and sent text messages to his cell phone at the weekend but he did not respond. The head of the anti-robbery squad who picked his call said he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Independent investigation by Vanguard, however, showed that there was more to it than meet the eyes in the killing of the politician. Already, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hezekiah Dimka, said to be incensed by the development, had, purportedly, summoned the members of the squad to Asaba to explain their role in the matter.
�A discreet investigation is going on over the killing of the CDC chairman. The Commissioner is not happy with the development, which is the only thing I can tell you now�, a police officer confided to Vanguard, yesterday.
We gathered that there was a delicate power play between the late CDC chairman and an influential leader, a chief in the town, who is the boss of a construction company over the leadership of the community and money accruing from oil royalties to the town.
The late Ojijevwe who took over from a loyalist of the said de facto leader discovered an unconfirmed fraud of about N36 million involving the oil money paid to the community, and insisted he should account for the money. The matter generated a heated row in the community, as the deceased refused all entreaties to forget the matter.
Vanguard learnt that the leader of the opposing faction threatened to deal with him, and few days after, the anti-robbery squad was told that he was an armed robber. The squad stormed the community, last month, and met Ojijevwe while he was holding a meeting with members of his executive. He was told the purpose of the visit and that they would want to search his house. He reportedly told them that he had three licensed guns in his house, belonging to the community�s vigilance corps, which he was the chairman and where they were kept in his house.
The police recovered the three guns, allegedly, with the inscription, ��Kokori Vigilance Group�� on them but knowing that it was a frame up and the source it was coming from, Ojijevwe told the police that he was not an armed robber, and told the policemen that one of his accusers was actually sponsoring armed robbers, and that if they go immediately to his house before information filter to him, they would find his guns.
Our source said the policemen reluctantly went to the said house, recovered two pump action guns and arrested the owner, who is a member of the other faction. The de facto leader arranged some community leaders who signed papers to say that the guns were owned by the community, and he was released.
The deceased and four others in his group were left to languish in detention until four of them were released following overwhelming pressures on the squad, leaving Ojijevwe behind. The squad rebuffed the moves to release him even when a higher authority was contacted.
Last Tuesday, 2 October, loyalists of the chief were celebrating that the Ojijevwe had been summarily executed by the police. The stunned family raised the alarm, and the squad, initially, denied that it was not true but the police owned up later, saying that he was shot dead when he jumped down from a pick up van in which he was being taken to a supposed robbers�� hideout.
Part of the puzzles the people want Commissioner Dimka to unravel are: How Ojijevwe who was handcuffed and surrounded by policemen was able to jump down from a police pick up van and escape, while the policemen, instead of pursuing him, opted to shoot him dead; why the member of the rival faction in the leadership tussle in Kokori community who was arrested with two pump action guns was released; the whereabouts of the two pump action guns that were recovered from him; were the guns found in the house of the deceased actually licensed as he claimed; who is the leader involved in the alleged N36 million oil money scam; and what did the police do concerning the allegation by the late Ojijevwe that he was framed up by the said chief, who, in the past few days, has been making frenzied efforts through some persons to compensate the family and foot the burial expenses of the deceased?