Adeda’s Killing: Family Fumes, Spitfire, Rejects Delta State Government Administrative Panel Of Inquiry
*Call for Independent Panel Of Inquiry
•Threatens Legal Action Against Delta State Government
*Rejects, distances themselves from Delta State Government emissaries on condolence visit
*Civil Society Organisation, Human Rights Organisation, Organised Body Delta State Chapter berates government’s hide-and-seek, divide-and-rule, and lackadaisical approach
*Civil Rights Organisation threatens to shut down Delta State
*Protest looms in Asaba, the Delta State capital, Ughelli North Council
By Matthias Ogbagah
UGHELLI – The Adeda family – the bereaved of the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Delta State, Mr Unity Ekuevugbe Adeda of Otovwodo – Ughelli in Ughelli North local government area of Delta State has berated the Delta State government for what they described as the government’s hide-and-seek, divide-and-rule, and lackadaisical approach to unearth and arrest those behind the hideous murder of their son.
Speaking to journalists in Ughelli, the elder brother of the late Unity Adeda, Mr Oghenevwogagag Adeda observed with shock the manner in which the Delta State government is handling the findings, and the immediate remote causes of why the Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Kingsley Ashibogwu, invited their son to be killed in his office.
According to him, the entire family of the Adeda dynasty received with very deep sadness the incident that happened at Asaba involving my younger brother, Mr Unity Adeda, a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.
What happened to him in the office resulted in his assault, where he was brutally and mercilessly beaten up, tied up and injured, and all dehumanising actions were meted out to him. We were able to take him to the hospital; he received medical attention, but his condition was so bad that they couldn’t even find a vein to give him any treatment.
Well, he wished to get well on time and go home, but on Friday morning, he passed away.
The news is really shocking. The news is very shocking and disheartening; we are all in deep sorrow, and we are mourning the loss of a dear one whose life has been cut short in his prime.
In the first instance, he was on leave, and we don’t know what he said, but he was invited to the office by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Kingsley Ashibogwu. I don’t know the altercation that took place in the office that warranted the Commissioner to order his police orderly, driver, and other of his foot soldiers to physically molest him.
He told the account of his molestation to one of the Adedas, Mr Akpofure Adeda and his sister, Mrs Ovwigho Asua, that he was invited to the office where he was physically assaulted, bound at the hands and feet like a common criminal. Clips and photos of the swollen face were provided; you can imagine the extent of beating that he has received before his death.
“We are a law-abiding and peaceful Christians family, but we will not just fold our hands and let the matter go like that. We have made an official protest to the Commissioner of Police, Delta State, who pleaded for time for a thorough investigation. We wish that justice be done and all the culprits are brought to book so that the family and the general public can have confidence in the government of the day.
Panel:
“The panel set up by the Delta State government is just a panel filled up with civil servants; no members of the family were included, and no natural figures like Human Rights Activists are included. I don’t know; civil servants are asked to investigate themselves. I don’t know what the outcome will be.
“In a situation when somebody is under investigation, and the person is still in the office, people would be economical with the truth for fear of victimisation. People who would ordinarily come forward with reliable information on the spot assessment of what happened.
“I am afraid that the Commissioner of Education is still in the office, and the governor did not make any official pronouncement. I wonder what that development is up to; that itself is a hindrance and blockage to the free flow of information.
“I expected the Commissioner of Police to be independent; he should stand on his ground as a police commissioner to do the needful, devoid of any manipulation from political forces.
In the case when a civil servant is investigating themselves, when the principal actor is still in office, it needs much to be desired; people who would have supplied valid information are going to be afraid to come to court, so one expected that the Commissioner of Education, who is involved in this farce, should have been suspended at least to let the immediate family and general public know that there would be confidence in the outcome of the panel.
According to him, the gruesome murder of the late Unity Ekuevugbe Adeda, who was 54 years old, married with four (4) children, based in Asaba, but for the past 4 years he’s been the chief inspector of education for Isoko South with field officer at Oleh before he was redeployed to Asaba.
Barrister Adeda threatens legal action
Also speaking, Barrister Oberhi Adeda said, “We received the whole incident as a rude shock, like a nightmare, only to get to Asaba to discover it was a reality. A public servant who set out for a legitimate duty from leave probably needed certain information from him. If there is any altercation, as they claim, there are rules guiding the civil service; there are measures of discipline. None of them has anything to do with physical assault; pictorial evidence shows he was manhandled as if in a slaughterhouse in the presence of other civil servants, and none intervened. It needs more to be desired; it also shows that there is a lot of intimidation between the political appointee and civil servants; hence, none was able to speak. Those who have videos of the incident are afraid to release them; rather, they are holding them. I am sure there are CCTV cameras in the state secretariat which need to be examined and scrutinised. It is painful; no matter the tears, our brother will not come back, but justice can go a long way to avoid and to serve as a deterrent to others.
The commissioner and his cohorts are public servants; they should be brought to book. It is a criminal offence that has to do with the death of a human being; so, it should not be given the colouration of a commission inquiry as if it were an offence committed by a civil servant.
“We need an independent committee, people who are not on the payroll of government; a panel like this is supposed to have a few civil servants who witnessed the incident and more from civil society and members of the family. I wouldn’t say I am confident in what will come of the panel inquiry when the Commissioner is still in office.
“The police are expected to do a thorough investigation; there are some videos emanating from staff even though they are going undercover; the orderly to the commissioner, his driver and David Diatake should be questioned; their phones, especially the recycle section of their phones, should be searched, and CCTV footage reviewed”.
“Thereafter, other civil servants started bringing out names of those who were there, but they were afraid for their names to be mentioned in print because they are on the payroll of the state government, and in our present-day civil service, anything can be manipulated; a query can come from nowhere, and then you look, you are sacked, and justice may not just come to them, so they decide to hide other information without mentioning their names.
“We are charging the commissioner of police first and foremost to do a thorough investigation both taking statements of persons who has been named, do other investigations, look at the attendance list on that day of work, they should be able to know those who were on duty on that daay, private investigation on them visit the cctv cameras of the ministry, meet members of families who were there and other friends who were also there at the hospital who will be able to give first hand information of his interaction with he before he passed on because he kept mentioning names which includes Doctor Kingsley Ashibogwu the commissioner for basic secondary education.
“As a legal practitioner, I want to believe that legal steps will be taken against the people who are involved and, by expectation, the government should know that he acted in an official capacity.
“As a commissioner, I was told that the person who brought him there wasn’t a civil servant; he was an appointee of the government.
“My late uncle’s account before he passed on is that he was invited by the Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education to his office, where he was assaulted, injured and bound on his hands and legs under the supervision of the Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education.
“Mrs Oviedo Asua, my younger sister, said that Mr Karo, a friend of my late uncle, is the one who called her, saying that his friend Amos told him to inform her that she was beaten and burned on his hands and legs”.
