By Gab Ejuwa

TUESDAY, November 26th made it two years since Chief Ogbe Onokpite, a former Citizens Peoples Party (CPP), governorship aspirant was killed by men of the Nigerian Police Force on allegation of gun-running. While he was alive, not many people in the State, except his native Okpe local government, Uvwie and environs, reckoned with him.

“Being the youngest gubernatorial candidate in Delta State since the creation of the State, the 38-year-old who was shot dead by the police at Beeland Hotel, Orhuwhorun in Udu Local Government Area could be said to have grown larger than life since he was killed. Two years after,  his remains will be buried today.

“His killing, which was like a scene from one of these Hollywood movies was scripted in the presence of police at about 6.00 pm on the ill-fated Saturday, following the arrest of a suspect, Malik Okorokporo, who confessed that he was instructed by the deceased to deliver two AK 47 rifles found on him to one Mr. Collins Egbara. But why he was shot dead and circumstances that led to his shooting, have kept tongues wagging till date.

“Following his death, the then Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mamman Tsafe who is now the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Zone 2 during a press conference he organized to brief journalists on the incident, said, “the slain politician was gunned down in his hotel while he tried to run, on sighting the police and he died on the way to the hospital.

Late Ogbe Onokpite

“On November 26, 2011 at about 2.00 p.m, undercover operatives at Beeland Hotel, Orhunwhoro, Udu Local Government Area intercepted a vehicle with registration no. AM 528 JRT driven by one Malik Okorokporo 33 years, of 31 Abasiomo Druona compound, Alegbo, Warri.“The driver was flagged down by the Police patrol team at Udu Orhunwhoro Road.

They searched and recovered two AK 47 rifles with Nos. 20613 and 13702, with over 60 rounds of live ammunition. These rifles were to be delivered to one Collins Egbara, Chairman of Agaga community now on the run at the instance of Ogbe Onokpite through his conveyor, Malik Okorokporo.The suspect took the patrol team to Beeland Hotel to apprehend his principal, who attempted to flee on sighting the Police, but was maimed.

The principal gave up the ghost on the way to the hospital.But reacting to the comments by Mr. Tsefe, Governor Uduaghan in an AIT current affairs programme, had chided the Police boss for being too quick in making such utterances saying, “As a security officer, he shouldn’t be quick in making judgment on such incidents.

He ought to have been properly briefed on the matter, before holding such media briefings.”On his part, radical human rights lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, who has since hands-off the matter over personal reasons, alleged that Onokpite was assassinated, stating that he would petition the police authorities for a full coroner inquest into the killing.

Speaking on the incident, Keyamo said, “Without any question, the police shot him on the leg and he was in pains, asking what he had done. They shot him on the chest and body and allowed him to bleed and died on the premises of the Police at the Area Command, after he was stripped naked. This is what they did to defenseless citizens of Nigeria.”

Backing his words with action, the then Inspector General of Police, Afiz Rigim on December 14, sixteen  days after Festus Keyamo forwarded a strongly worded petition to him on the killing of Chief Onokpite, directed the same Delta State Commissioner of Police, to investigate the incident. This, Keyamo rejected, saying the Commissioner should not be saddled with the responsibility of investigating a matter in which he had already taken side.

On their part, the Onokpite family of Ugolo –Okpe, Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State, dragged Mr. Mamma Tsafe before the Warri High Court, even though he was “investigating” the incident as ordered by his boss the IG. In a motion on notice filed by John Odohisi Esq. on behalf of the family, the family urged the court to declare that: “The killing of Mr. Ogbe Onokpite by the third respondent’s men on the 26th of November, 2011, through multiple bullet wounds, is a breach of the said Ogbe Onokpite’s fundamental right to life as protected under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution.”

Furthermore, the family asked the court to declare that the killing of Mr. Ogbe Onokpite was done without or in the absence of a valid sentence/order of a court  in respect of a criminal offence and therefore, illegal, extra-judicial, unconstitutional and without due process. A subsequent relief sought for by the family is an order by the court for an autopsy examination and/or a Coroner inquest into the cause and circumstances of death of the said Mr. Ogbe Onokpite, whose death occurred on the 26th day of November, 2011, while he was in police custody.

Granting the prayer of the family, the Warri High Court III, presided by Justice C.E Achenefu, finally ruled that since there was no agreement on the circumstances surrounding the death of the two-time former governorship candidate for the state, an autopsy should be conducted. According to Mr. Odohisi, who confirmed the conclusion of the autopsy, “all the parties in the case were involved in the process.

With the result of the autopsy here in Warri, we took the corpse to Lagos because we weren’t comfortable with some gray areas and we needed confirmation, hence, the same test was done in Lagos which came out same with the result gotten in Warri.”However, following the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Abubakar as the new Inspector General of Police, which was followed by a petition from another counsel to the Onokpite family, Messrs Erieta and Partners, the police authorities decided to set up a panel to investigate the killing.

In a letter to the IGP, the PSC Chairman, Mr. Parry Osayande, directed that the panel should undertake a “discreet investigation of facts surrounding the death of the politician while in police custody.” “The letter read in part, ‘’ You are to retrieve all police files records, books, registers, case files and other relevant documents pertaining to this case for proper scrutiny. Identify the police officers and their civilian cohorts who are responsible for the unlawful killing of Chief Ogbe Onokpite while in police custody for disciplinary action and prosecution. ‘’

And forward their names to the commission for onward transmission to the Presidential Committee on Police Reform for appropriate recommendation in accordance with its terms of references. The affidavit accompanying the petition by Onokpite’s lawyers to the PSC was sworn to by Mr. Gbenga Onosuyi, said to have witnessed the incident which occurred at Beeland Hotel, Orhuwhorun.

The petitioners averred that the deceased was arrested by a team of policemen in uniform and mufti who stormed the Hotel in a Nissan Pathfinder Jeep and two Hilux vans. They added that the police shot the deceased in both knees and drove him away to the Warri Area Command, where he was “finally killed.’’ “Lawyers for Onokpite also argued in the petition that the deceased was killed as a result of his “principled stand’’ on the marginalisation of the Urhobo in the sharing of an alleged monthly N2bn pipeline surveillance fund, given by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company to the state government.

On his part, in a release signed by one of his younger siblings Priest Ufuoma Emmanuel Onokpite, it stated, “We, the family of Onokpite, are giving thanks, honour and glory to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who saw this day and let it come to pass for our dearest brother Chief Ogbe, because we all know that nothing can happen to a man without the consent of the Almighty God.

I have always believed in my brother’s love for God, his zeal for what is right in the cause for the people of Delta State and he subsequently died for that cause. Like our Lord Jesus Christ, Chief Ogbe had no form or comeliness that should be looked at and no beauty that should be desired of at his death; he was brutalized and was stripped of his clothing. Yet, it is the will of the Lord that it happened, because in his death, the Lord has divided him a portion with the great and a spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul for the cause of his people,” it stated.

According to Priest Onokpite, “Investigation of the death of the late Ogbe Onokpite has revealed that, one of the policemen identified as one of the shooters, who was said to have removed Ogbe’s necklace, died in mysterious circumstances in his cell, while the duo of British and Orlando where shot by unknown gunmen. These people where living witnesses to the killing of my brother, yet someway, somehow, they were silenced.

Even the two AK47 rifles that were presumed to belong to Ogbe were confirmed by the Police Armoury in Lagos as police rifles. Other persons indicted are still out there and with God on our side, they would be brought to book.“Though the case is still under investigation, we urge the judiciary and the Presidency, through Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be diligent in unraveling the circumstances surrounding his death. We are trusting God who is the highest Judiciary to do justice in this matter.”

On its part, the umbrella body of the Urhobo Nation, the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) has been quiet throughout the period of the incident. The manner in which the late politician was killed according to an Urhobo chief who spoke on anonymity is a taboo to the culture and tradition of the Urhobo people. “Imagine an Urhobo chief, stripped of his clothing, shot dead like a common criminal and left on the bare ground to the public glare, it is indeed a slap on the Urhobos,” the source added.

While the Onokpite family and associates alleged that his death was politically motivated, the police have always and still maintains that, he was a gun-runner and was resisting arrest when he was shot. As the corpse of Chief Ogbe Onopkite is buried today, the question still remains, what actually happened to Ogbe?

By Gab Ejuwa

TUESDAY, November 26th made it two years since Chief Ogbe Onokpite, a former Citizens Peoples Party (CPP), governorship aspirant was             killed by men of the Nigerian Police Force on allegation of gun-running. While he was alive, not many people in the State, except his native Okpe local government, Uvwie and environs, reckoned with him.“Being the youngest gubernatorial candidate in Delta State since the creation of the State, the 38-year-old who was shot dead by the police at Beeland Hotel, Orhuwhorun in Udu Local Government Area could be said to have grown larger than life since he was killed. Two years after,  his remains will be buried today.“His killing, which was like a scene from one of these Hollywood movies was scripted in the presence of police at about 6.00 pm on the ill-fated Saturday, following the arrest of a suspect, Malik Okorokporo, who confessed that he was instructed by the deceased to deliver two AK 47 rifles found on him to one Mr. Collins Egbara. But why he was shot dead and circumstances
that led to his shooting, have kept tongues wagging till date.“Following his death, the then Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mamman Tsafe who is now the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Zone 2 during a press conference he organized to brief journalists on the incident, said, “the slain politician was gunned down in his hotel while he tried to run, on sighting the police and he died on the way to the hospital.“On November 26, 2011 at about 2.00 p.m, undercover operatives at Beeland Hotel, Orhunwhoro, Udu Local Government Area intercepted a vehicle with registration no. AM 528 JRT driven by one Malik Okorokporo 33 years, of 31 Abasiomo Druona compound, Alegbo, Warri.“The driver was flagged down by the Police patrol team at Udu Orhunwhoro Road. They searched and recovered two AK 47 rifles with Nos. 20613 and 13702, with over 60 rounds of live ammunition. These rifles were to be delivered to one Collins Egbara, Chairman of Agaga community now on the run at the instance of Ogbe Onokpite through
his conveyor, Malik Okorokporo.The suspect took the patrol team to Beeland Hotel to apprehend his principal, who attempted to flee on sighting the Police, but was maimed.

The principal gave up the ghost on the way to the hospital.But reacting to the comments by Mr. Tsefe, Governor Uduaghan in an AIT current affairs programme, had chided the Police boss for being too quick in making such utterances saying, “As a security officer, he shouldn’t be quick in making judgment on such incidents. He ought to have been properly briefed on the matter, before holding such media briefings.”On his part, radical human rights lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, who has since hands-off the matter over personal reasons, alleged that Onokpite was assassinated, stating that he would petition the police authorities for a full coroner inquest into the killing.Speaking on the incident, Keyamo said, “Without any question, the police shot him on the leg and he was in pains, asking what he had done. They shot him on the chest and body and allowed him to bleed and died on the premises of the Police at the Area Command, after he was stripped naked. This is what they did to defenseless citizens of Nigeria.”Backing
his words with action, the then Inspector General of Police, Afiz Rigim on December 14, sixteen  days after Festus Keyamo forwarded a strongly worded petition to him on the killing of Chief Onokpite, directed the same Delta State Commissioner of Police, to investigate the incident. This, Keyamo rejected, saying the Commissioner should not be saddled with the responsibility of investigating a matter in which he had already taken side. On their part, the Onokpite family of Ugolo –Okpe, Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State, dragged Mr. Mamma Tsafe before the Warri High Court, even though he was “investigating” the incident as ordered by his boss the IG. In a motion on notice filed by John Odohisi Esq. on behalf of the family, the family urged the court to declare that: “The killing of Mr. Ogbe Onokpite by the third respondent’s men on the 26th of November, 2011, through multiple bullet wounds, is a breach of the said Ogbe Onokpite’s fundamental right to life as protected under Section 33 of the 1999 Constit
ution.” Furthermore, the family asked the court to declare that the killing of Mr. Ogbe Onokpite was done without or in the absence of a valid sentence/order of a court  in respect of a criminal offence and therefore, illegal, extra-judicial, unconstitutional and without due process. A subsequent relief sought for by the family is an order by the court for an autopsy examination and/or a Coroner inquest into the cause and circumstances of death of the said Mr. Ogbe Onokpite, whose death occurred on the 26th day of November, 2011, while he was in police custody. Granting the prayer of the family, the Warri High Court III, presided by Justice C.E Achenefu, finally ruled that since there was no agreement on the circumstances surrounding the death of the two-time former governorship candidate for the state, an autopsy should be conducted. According to Mr. Odohisi, who confirmed the conclusion of the autopsy, “all the parties in the case were involved in the process.With the result of the autopsy here in Warri, we
took the corpse to Lagos because we weren’t comfortable with some gray areas and we needed confirmation, hence, the same test was done in Lagos which came out same with the result gotten in Warri.”However, following the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Abubakar as the new Inspector General of Police, which was followed by a petition from another counsel to the Onokpite family, Messrs Erieta and Partners, the police authorities decided to set up a panel to investigate the killing. In a letter to the IGP, the PSC Chairman, Mr. Parry Osayande, directed that the panel should undertake a “discreet investigation of facts surrounding the death of the politician while in police custody.” “The letter read in part, ‘’ You are to retrieve all police files records, books, registers, case files and other relevant documents pertaining to this case for proper scrutiny. Identify the police officers and their civilian cohorts who are responsible for the unlawful killing of Chief Ogbe Onokpite while in police custody for disciplina
ry action and prosecution. ‘’And forward their names to the commission for onward transmission to the Presidential Committee on Police Reform for appropriate recommendation in accordance with its terms of references. The affidavit accompanying the petition by Onokpite’s lawyers to the PSC was sworn to by Mr. Gbenga Onosuyi, said to have witnessed the incident which occurred at Beeland Hotel, Orhuwhorun. The petitioners averred that the deceased was arrested by a team of policemen in uniform and mufti who stormed the Hotel in a Nissan Pathfinder Jeep and two Hilux vans. They added that the police shot the deceased in both knees and drove him away to the Warri Area Command, where he was “finally killed.’’ “Lawyers for Onokpite also argued in the petition that the deceased was killed as a result of his “principled stand’’ on the marginalisation of the Urhobo in the sharing of an alleged monthly N2bn pipeline surveillance fund, given by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company to the state government. On his part,
in a release signed by one of his younger siblings Priest Ufuoma Emmanuel Onokpite, it stated, “We, the family of Onokpite, are giving thanks, honour and glory to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who saw this day and let it come to pass for our dearest brother Chief Ogbe, because we all know that nothing can happen to a man without the consent of the Almighty God. I have always believed in my brother’s love for God, his zeal for what is right in the cause for the people of Delta State and he subsequently died for that cause. Like our Lord Jesus Christ, Chief Ogbe had no form or comeliness that should be looked at and no beauty that should be desired of at his death; he was brutalized and was stripped of his clothing. Yet, it is the will of the Lord that it happened, because in his death, the Lord has divided him a portion with the great and a spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul for the cause of his people,” it stated. According to Priest Onokpite, “Investigation of the death of the late O
gbe Onokpite has revealed that, one of the policemen identified as one of the shooters, who was said to have removed Ogbe’s necklace, died in mysterious circumstances in his cell, while the duo of British and Orlando where shot by unknown gunmen. These people where living witnesses to the killing of my brother, yet someway, somehow, they were silenced. Even the two AK47 rifles that were presumed to belong to Ogbe were confirmed by the Police Armoury in Lagos as police rifles. Other persons indicted are still out there and with God on our side, they would be brought to book.“Though the case is still under investigation, we urge the judiciary and the Presidency, through Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be diligent in unraveling the circumstances surrounding his death. We are trusting God who is the highest Judiciary to do justice in this matter.”On its part, the umbrella body of the Urhobo Nation, the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) has been quiet throughout the period of the incident. The manner in which the late politici
an was killed according to an Urhobo chief who spoke on anonymity is a taboo to the culture and tradition of the Urhobo people. “Imagine an Urhobo chief, stripped of his clothing, shot dead like a common criminal and left on the bare ground to the public glare, it is indeed a slap on the Urhobos,” the source added. While the Onokpite family and associates alleged that his death was politically motivated, the police have always and still maintains that, he was a gun-runner and was resisting arrest when he was shot. As the corpse of Chief Ogbe Onopkite is buried today, the question still remains, what actually happened to Ogbe?