Community Kicks over Death of Delta Youth Leader in Police Custody

UGHELLI—There is an uneasy calm in Enenurhie community over the death of a youth leader, Oyibo Diamond, in police custody at Ughelli A Police Division, Delta State. Vanguard gathered that the deceased, a father of five, arrested and detained on December 20, 2023, allegedly died on Christmas eve in detention in unexplainable circumstances.

President-General of Enenurhie, Mr. Peter Maison said: “Mr Oyibo Diamond was invited by the police from the Ughelli A Division because of an incident that happened recently where an armed robber was killed at Evwreni community. “Probably, the police saw the phone number of my community youth leader in the phone of the deceased, who the police said was a robber or kidnapper and when they came for raiding, the youth leader was among the six persons arrested at his elder brother’s hotel in Enenurhie community. “When we heard about the incident, we went to the station to effect their release, the police refused. They insisted that they had a particular case against the youth leader, that they had traces of a call between him and the suspected deceased robber/kidnapper. “The police used that as a way of indicting him in other to detain him, and we gave them enough room to investigate for them not to feel that we as community leaders are obstructing the investigations. “As you know, Evwreni and Enenurhie communities are one and me being the president general of a community, people are bound to have my number, just like that of the youth leader, which is very normal. “The most painful thing was that the DPO in question knew that I came to him on several occasions seeking the release of the youth leader such that any time he wants him, I will provide him but he refused and overreacted on the issues for reasons best known to him. And he kept him more than the number of days to be charged, if found wanting. The result of that is his death while in detention. “A day before he died, I went to the police station but the DPO was not around. I called his line several times, he did not pick up my call and he never returned and I felt probably he was at a ceremony. I called him (DPO), again later in the night that same day and he told me that he saw my call and that I should see him the next day, Sunday, December 24. After the close of service, I called the youth leader’s elder brother and we went but from what the DPO told me, it looks as if the boy died on Saturday, December 23 and he just kept it to himself. I suspect foul play because, he did not call me by 8am but precisely 10:07 am, and when I told him I was in the church, he immediately ended the call. When he broke the news to me, he was panicking and regretting that if he had known, he would have released him to me on Saturday but the damage has been done. As a community, we are going to have legal issues with him, because the circumstances that led to his death are not too clear to us. They did not come up with the result of their investigation that made them kept him there for the number of days. As a family, we want to know the outcome of their investigations and as time progresses, we will talk about other things but for now they should tell us the findings of their investigations. It is surprising that the police carried out an autopsy on him without the knowledge of the community or family members just to absolve themselves from his death.”

Source: Vanguard