How Journalist Was Slain On Val Day
Mr. Efenji Efenji, ex- reporter with the Africa Independent Television (AIT), celebrated the Valentine's Day for the last time this Sunday. During his outing with his friends and some members of his family to a popular outdoor joint, Corteland Garden and Bar, Karu, in the suburbs of the Federal Capital
Territory, he was hacked to death by a group of about 15 machete- and axe-wielding youths. The hoodlums attacked him and left him to bleed to death.
According to a relative of the deceased, Mr. Innocent Eneji, who was at the Val outing, Efenji alongside his sister-in-law as well as his own wife and baby had gone out in the spirit of the day to relax and share moments together.
Eneji disclosed that, at a time in the garden, the whole place became rowdy with bottles being smashed by some youths, and they had to relocate to another location. But soon after they relocated, they could not tell where Efenji was, given the rowdy nature of the place.
As Eneji was looking for him, he saw him being attacked by over 15 hoodlums wielding cutlasses, axes and clubs.
The deceased’s cousin disclosed that when he tried to intervene, he was overpowered by the mob and floored while the late Efenji continued calling on him not to allow them to kill him.
Obviously pained and angry at the turn of events, Eneji said he was arrested by the police on their arrival, notwithstanding his protestation and repeated appeal to them to search for Efenji who was obviously alive at the time. According to him, he had suggested that the police accompany him to look for the wounded Efenji.
Eneji lamented that the police did not give heed as he was bundled off together with the manager of the Corteland Garden to the Karu Divisional Police Station at about 11pm. “I am angry with the police. Perhaps my brother Efenji would still be alive today if they had listened to me. No! They just hurled me into their van, removed my belt and locked me up. What sort of police do we have?”
The family, he said, later learnt that the deceased had scaled the barbed wire behind the garden, despite being bloodied, and collapsed a few metres from the Karu market, apparently from loss of blood, where he was found in the early hours of Monday by a security man attached to the market.
A visit by our correspondent to Corteland Garden showed blood stains on the way leading to where the late journalist managed to scale the barbed fence to escape from his assailants.
All attempts to get workers at the garden to comment on the tragic incident of February 14 proved abortive as none of them was willing to provide an insight into what happened that fateful night.
At the Karu police station, the area commander of Abuja Metro, Mr. Sunday Odukoya, who had rushed to the police station, said the police would brief the press when they had made inroads into the matter. He disclosed that the manager of the garden and two suspects had been taken into custody.
However, the family of the deceased has faulted the police in their handling of the matter so far. A family member, Mr. Utang Okaba, a senior staff of AIT, expressed shock that the police were yet to secure the crime scene as well as take pictures of the corpse before it was removed.
Okaba said it was not unlikely that the Karu division of the police was compromised on the matter as, he alleged, the manager was allowed to sleep on the counter while his relative and others were locked behind bars.
Okaba further alleged that the divisional crime officer had ruled out the killing as a criminal matter but that of "two fighting," wondering what that means.
When our correspondent met with the DCO, who simply gave his name as Louis, he dismissed the claims of the family, pointing out that it was the manager that made the call to the police over the fighting that was going on at the garden and said it was beyond him to compromise on such an issue. He also said the family of the deceased was unfair because the case was penciled down as culpable homicide; he wondered why anybody would say he had dismissed the matter as that of two fighting.
He declined to comment on what the division had done so far, stressing that at the appropriate time the police would speak on their findings.
At the Karu police station, it was weeping and lamentation as family members and friends converged there to get firsthand information on what led to the death of the promising journalist who was in his early 30s.
Members of the public questioned the motive of the attack as no other person at the venue of the Valentine outing was attacked. This is one questions the police are sure to grapple with as they commence investigations.
Some who spoke to LEADERSHIP also faulted the police for refusing to follow the thread of evidence provided by the deceased's cousin who was with him at the time he was attacked.
Speaking on the tragic passage of Mr. Efenji, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, Mr. Jacob Edi, described the death as "cruel, wicked and callous," while calling on the Nigeria Police to ensure that those behind the gruesome murder are brought to justice. Edi lamented that journalists who work towards the good of society have become objects of violence and senseless killings, noting that it does not augur well for society. He urged Nigerians to see the journalist as an agent of positive change and prayed God to grant the late Efenji's soul repose while calling on the family to bear the loss with fortitude.
When contacted, the police public relations officer (PPRO), Mr. Jimoh Moshood, confirmed the incident, stating that a high-powered investigative team led by the deputy commissioner, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and the area commander, Metro, were on the matter.
According to him, the incident was reported to the police at about 10:45pm on Sunday and a patrol team was sent to investigate the situation but left after calm had returned to the park.
He called for patience on the part of the deceased's family and other residents, noting that it was rather early to draw conclusions on why the late journalist was attacked or whether he was the target of the hoodlums in the first instance.
The command, Moshood said, would do everything possible to ensure that the case was resolved and speedily too.
On why the Karu division had become a flash spot, the PPRO said it would not be wrong to run to such conclusion, noting that the recent incident and killing of a female lawyer alongside her cook and gateman were isolated incidents. He however insisted that progress was being made on the previous incident and that the suspected culprits would soon be paraded and charged to court.
source:leadershipnigeria.com
