In reaction to allegations that the police were shielding the suspect in whose house the young lady died, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, has denied any complicity.

Jimoh, in an interview with Abuja Metro, said the police would do everything to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the young woman.

He also said that, prior to the petition by the family of the deceased to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, police authorities queried the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of Life Camp Police Station, where the incident was reported, on allegations of being compromised by the suspect, who allegedly killed their daughter.

Moshood also said the police took a further step by transferring the DPO out of the station to disabuse the minds of the family and convince them that the police would do nothing but a thorough job.

He also advised parents to monitor their children and know what they were doing so as not to get into trouble. He equally advised parents not to take their poverty level for granted by allowing their children, especially daughters, to date perceived rich men because, according to him, the parents of the girl were very much aware of the relationship between the suspect and their deceased daughter. This notwithstanding, Moshood said the police would do everything possible to get to the bottom of the matter.

He also said that the suspect was now in police custody under interrogation.

The FPRO said, “The police force is not shielding the DPO, I want the family members to know that we don’t do that.

“When the matter was reported, it was reported at the divisional level, where preliminary investigation was conducted under the DPO. 

“It was a case of murder, suspected murder. It is the practice of the police that in capital offenses such as murder, kidnaping, rape and the likes, investigations don’t end at the divisional level. 

“So it is police procedure that the matter be transferred to the command headquarters, which was done in the FCT. But we had other issues from the media alleging that the DPO was suspected to have been compromised and the police initiated a separate inquiry into the way the matter was handled and subsequently transfered the matter to the IGP’s Monitoring Unit at the force headquarters level.

“Our aim and objective is to ensure that justice is done at the end of the day and that is why further thorough investigation is being carried out.

“We want the family to know that discreet investigation must be carried out to ensure that we don’t leave anything to chance and we don’t allow any compromise by any of our officers in this regard.

“So, as far as the police is concerned, investigation is still ongoing and autopsy and post-mortem examination has been carried out and we have equally received medical report from medical personnel in respect of the other victim that survived and we are looking into that.

“When the family now is made some certain observations that bordered on the issue of compromise, the IGP directed an investigation into the matter properly.

“The family members have approached the police with their counsel and other NGOs on the matter and further investigations with regard to autopsy and post-mortem examination is currently being undertaken because you have to compare notes, you don’t just rush and charge the people to court without getting enough evidence.

“And in the light of this, police initiated a warrant of arrest to arrest the suspect and maybe he got to know that police was looking for him so he came and surrendered himself on Wednesday.

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“However, handing himself over to the police does not exonerate him from the offense because we are forging ahead with both investigations; the suspect is in our custody and we will ensure that the proper thing is done without any bias because this is a life that has been lost and for every life that is lost, we must investigate the reason why and be able to tell the court this is what happened.

“We are very hopeful that, as soon as the post-mortem report is out, we will commence prosecution.”

On the fate of the DPO, was has remanined unnamed, the FPRO said “the DPO, as we speak, is no more in that station and that was to give way for a thorough investigation so that there can be transparency and for people to equally know that when you have any allegation of people saying you don’t do the proper thing, it is only good that you give way so that we can go deep down to know what has happened.

“So the DPO is no longer there and for other actions that we feel violated discipline the DPO was queried, though query is not a punishment, it was for him to explain his role in the matter.

“We are not leaving any stone unturned because we know the kind of passion it generated; so we are going to ensure that justice is done at the end of the day.”

Advise to parents

Moshood said, “In addition to those that will be reading this story, I want them to know that as a parent, you have a duty to be upright and know what your children are doing and nobody should hide under the guise of poverty or not very being able to take care of the family needs and put your children on an edge where their life would be at risk.

“Because we found out the mother of the deceased was very much aware of the relationship between her daughter and the suspect, which is quite unfortunate because the woman had every opportunity to have been able to prevent this sad incident from occurring.

“Because no matter how things look good at the beginning, as a mother and somebody that has been in this world before your children, you should know that manna does not fall from heaven. Part of what was investigated was that probably the suspect must have enticed the deceased’s mother with some money; according to the media report we initially monitored, he helped the daughter with her school fees and all of that.

“So we encourage people not to engage people they don’t know in their family affairs and take proper care of their children and wards because poverty is not a disease. People who are rich today were poor before and if we face our work very well, we can succeed.

“But that does not mean in this case we will not investigate this to the logical conclusion so that everybody would be better served.”

Medical and autopsy reports obtained by Abuja Metro, at the National Hospital, Abuja, where the family eventually took the body of the deceased, revealed that Joy died of “cardiogenic shock, secondary to diffuse myocardial infarction.”

The autopsy on May 9, 2017, by Dr. Jibrin Dahl, and signed and certified by the deputy director in charge of legal at the National Hospital, Chris Y. Amman, dated June, 2, 2017, further said: “I certify that cause of death in my opinion to be “cardiogenic shock, secondary to diffuse myocardial infarction. Secondary to possible accute cocaine poison toxicology is required to confirm the nature of the drug.”

Who killed Joy Odama, how did cocaine get into her system? Who was the nurse that stayed with Alhaji, what was her role in the house and where is she now?

What is the relationship between the AIG, the DPO and the suspect? These and more are the questions the police need to answer, as the government and people of Cross River Sstate begin the legal battle to unravel the killing of one of their own.