According to a statement made available to NewAge, the eye witness to the tragedy, friend and co-traveller with Okonkwo, in the ill-fated trip stated that the deceased was killed at the Uke police post by a trigger-happy police constable.

The witness, who only recently completed his undergraduate study in Mathematics from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, said the shot that killed Okonkwo was fired by the driver of the police patrol team whose colleagues immediately lamented never handled a gun. Below is his story:

“Victor was a close friend of my younger brother.They were mates at the State Security Service training school in Kaduna. But we became family friends. At present, my younger brother who is serving in Anambra state lives with the parents of Victor. Victor was always in our family house in Abuja; and of late has been the one taking care of our mother who is sick.

“He asked me to follow him to Nassarawa Polytechnic where he was to write a paper in Accounting. He was studying for his Ordinary National Diploma in Business Administration. We were three on the trip and we had a smooth ride until we were stopped by a highway police patrol.”

He said the policemen walked up to them and asked for the vehicle papers.

Victor responded by saying “espirit de corp. He introduced himself as an SSS operative who works with the Vice-President. The Policeman then exchanged banters with him and saying something like “Oga, na you dey enjoy o” They asked us to go.

As Victor was about to move, the policemen came back and said their inspector wanted to see Victor. He came down from the car and walked up to the inspector in the patrol jeep. “The next thing was that the inspector came down from the front passenger seat of the patrol vehicle and started complaining. He was saying something like; “you boys think every policeman on the road is an ordinary man.” When the inspector rebuffed our pleadings that Victor and his colleague will be late for their exam, Victor persuaded his colleague in the car who was going for the same exam, to leave while he sorted himself out. Then, the inspector said we should go to the next police station. “As we drove towards Keffi, one of the policemen who had taken over our front passenger seat asked for the particulars of the paper. Victor asked him to pick it in the dashboard safe and he did.’’ At the police post in Uke, Karshi local government of Nassarawa state, we stopped and the inspector directed his men to search the Toyota Karina 2 vehicle that we were travelling in. After the search in which nothing was found, the inspector asked that the vehicle be impounded.

At this point, Victor started pleading that he would be late for his examination and that the inspector should please allow him to go. The inspector refused and ordered his men to register the car in the station register. Victor handed the key of the car to him. As we made to leave the station, the inspector again called us back and asked Victor where he said he was working .Victor brought out his wallet comprising four identity cards, that of the SSS, the Presidential Villa, his National ID card and his bank account ID card. The officer called one his men to identify the Villa ID card and that one said “Oga na true o the ID look like original.”

“All these while, Victor was calling his colleagues in the Villa but could not get through. Then the man said he will not release him until the people he had been calling came to identify him. He said Victor should be locked up.

Victor said he could not be locked up because he worked for a security agency like the inspector.

Five policemen surrounded him and tried to force him into the station. He resisted and they were struggling with him but they could not overpower him.

As they struggled, his service pistol fell and the policemen tried to pick it up. They struggled but he was able to pick it before any of them. They continued to struggle with him. Then, one of them named Akpama, dashed to the patrol vehicle, grabbed a rifle, and shot into the air once. I was scared and I ran to the inspector pleading that he should intervene, to intervene but he was busy smoking cigarette. As I was pleading with him, I heard another shot; I looked back and saw Victor going down. I rushed to him and tried to hold him. One old man and a girl from the village joined me to attend to him’’.

“I rushed to the roadside to get a vehicle to convey him for medical attention. A Datsun car agreed to help us .As we drove into the station, a policeman ordered the driver to stop and he was taken away.

It was when the DPO who said he was attracted by the gun shots came that he ordered that Victor should be taken for medical attention. He was taken to the back of the jeep and I held him, praying that he will survive the gun wound.

As we drove to Keffi, the policemen started accusing each other for the gun shot. The inspector took his gun and checked his bullets .The other policemen accused Akpama, the patrol van driver for firing the shot. They said he was always running away from gun. They kept saying that “the first time he handled gun, he had killed someone”. When we got to the medical centre in Keffi, the medical doctor examined Victor and left without saying a word. When the DPO went into the doctor’s office, I followed him and pleaded that the doctor should come and take care of Victor. He then confirmed that Victor was dead” he said as he wept.

The eye witness disclosed that he had made statement to the police giving this same account.

At the police station, the policemen wept, asking what will happen to them after many years in service. They kept blaming each other for the killing” the witness concluded.