In a twist of duty, the group of people employed to uphold the law, ay be at the forefront of breaking it.
That was the experience of the family of a farmer, Umog Charlie, who was offered a bribe of N1.3m to let go of the case of the alleged killing of their breadwinner by a police inspector identified as Oliver Akang in Akwa Ibom State.
The family alleged that the policeman murdered Umong on Asutan Street, Off Barracks Road, Uyo, the state capital.
Narrating how the deceased was killed, the family said Akang and five other policemen attached to the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Cultism police unit in Uyo, during a raid, stormed Ibong Otoro village and shot aimlessly on September 9.
Speaking to newsmen, the deceased’s sister, Esther Ini, and his brother, Destiny Ini, claimed that all attempts to stop the officers from shooting aimlessly failed until Umog was killed by a bullet from Akang’s rifle.
After perpetrating the act, the policemen were said to have fled the scene for fear of a reprisal attack.
Esther stated, “When we visited the Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi, over the killing of my brother by Inspector Akang, the CP personally handed over the sum of N100,000 cash to us before we left his office.
“Later, while Akang was detained in the cell over the matter, the OC (Officer in Charge) of the Anti-cultism and Anti-kidnapping invited my brother and they gave him the sum of N1.2m and forced us to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to stop legal proceedings on the killing of our brother.
“What we want now is justice. Our brother had four kids before he died and the oldest child is 10 years old. Now, there is no one to cater for the children as his wife is jobless.”
Destiny also said, “The OC (I don’t know his name) and his boys invited me and they gave us N1.2m. But before they gave us the money they took us to a court and forced us to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for us not to take the matter to court or speak to the press.
“After my brother was killed and we went to the police, they threatened us and said they would accuse us of being criminals, so they said if we didn’t take the ₦1.2m we should forget about the matter, and that would be all.”
A copy of the MoU between the deceased’s family and the Akwa Ibom Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi, dated September 26, 2023, and signed by the deceased’s wife, Edidiong, and the deceased’s siblings, Destiny, and Glory Ini, obtained by our correspondent corroborated the narration of the relatives.
A lawyer, Nango Nango, who spoke on behalf of the deceased’s wife, said following the receipt of the petition, the CP and the police officers reached out to the families of the deceased instead and never informed him about the development leading to the signing of the MoU and the offer and receipt of the N1.2m between the police and the family.
When contacted on the phone, Akang who initially answered the call, refused to respond to questions over the development and ignored subsequent calls and a text message sent by our correspondent.
Also, Durosinmi could not be reached as his number was unavailable as of the time this report was filed on Friday evening.