My husband was killed by his bosom police friend, laments wife of slain DPO

FOR the family of Mr. Celestine Ozuruoha, the slain Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Uratta Police Station in Aba, Abia state, life will definitely not be the safe again as they are going to live the rest of their lives without their loved husband, father and brother.

Since the police officer died about ten days ago, the wife, Mrs.Chinyere Ozuruoha has not recovered from the shock of the sad news. More painful is her suspicion that her husband was killed by his close friend and colleague.

DPO Ozuruoha, said to be a very sincere and hardworking officer, was killed in the early hours of Monday December, 5 2011, while on a night patrol with some of his men. His death has given Abia state police command a big puzzle which it is

Late Ozuruola

still battling to resolve.

Already, the command has arrested some police men who were on duty with the late DPO on that fateful night he was killed. The traditional ruler of the community where the killing took place was also arrested. They are all still in police custody.

However, Mrs. Ozuruoha is insisting that her husband was killed by one of the police officer’s in police custody, who she described as her husband’s “bosom friend”. The family has therefore appealed to the Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim to prevail on the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 9, Umuahia, to fish out the killers of their son.

Mrs. Ozuruoha, a mother of five, strongly alleged that her husband was set up by his police friend just because he did not encourage corruption.

“My husband was a police officer who does not smoke, drink or womanize. He has worked with both the current Abia State Police Commissioner and Aba Area Commander when they were in Ibadan Oyo State. The two men can testify to his kind of person.

“A DPO who does not own a car in Nigeria, you will know that he abhors corruption, the fact that he did not own a car never bordered him. Rather, he believed that by dint of hard work, he would own one. You cannot imagine that he was still building a house before he was brutally murdered”, Mrs Ozuruoha lamented.

According to her, “last two weeks when my husband came to Enugu where we are living, he complained about threat to his life on account of his resolve to deal decisively with kidnappers, and armed robbers, particularly, a car thief incident he was handing before his death. He said one of the arrested suspects who, incidentally, was his close friend was behind the threat.

The slain DPO with his family

“Last week [before he was killed], because of the car theft case, my husband told me that the same police officer who even visited our home in Enugu and Uli used the language,‘turkey don born monkey’ against him for his insistence on allowing justice to be done in the car theft case against the wish of the his bosom police friend”.

The devastated widow of the DPO also alleged that on that fateful early morning, one of the police officers now in detention, called her husband by1am over a robbery incident, and being his friend, her husband responded to the call not knowing that he was called out to be killed by his friend whom she said was working for some people.

“I have always known that that man was never a good friend to my husband but my husband is someone that always trusts people. As a dutiful DPO, he responded to the call by that time because he always wanted to encourage his subordinates. He even called the station guard who went with him to answer the call by that 1am, and the man has [allegedly] testified how he was killed and who shot him.

“The issue of unknown assailants should not arise, his colleagues know who killed him, and some of them have even called us to tell us the person that did the dastardly shooting”, Mrs. Ozuruoha said amidst tears.

The widow who appealed to the police authorities not to allow the killers of her husband to go free also passionately called on the IG to ensure that the education of her children did not stop with the death of her husband. She also appealed to the authorities to help her complete the building project her husband started before his death.

When contacted Wednesday night, Abia state police commissioner, Mr. Bala Hassan said investigation was still on in the matter. He confirmed that some arrests have been made including police men and the traditional ruler of the particular community where the DPO was killed.

Vanguard Nigeria