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| South African Police. File photo |
The President, Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA), Mr. Ben Okoli, yesterday raised the alarm over the circumstances surrounding the death of a Nigerian, Mr Ebuka Udugbo, allegedly by South African Police.
Okoli said this in a letter to the Consul General, Nigerian Consulate, Johannesburg that Ebuka Udugbo was arrested by South African Police over a quarrel with his girlfriend, one Miss Linda, on April 28 only to be pronounced dead later by the police.
โThe information we got initially was that he committed suicide while in the South African Police custody in Cape Town. We conducted our own preliminary investigation over the circumstances surrounding his death,โ Okoli said in the letter,according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He added:โWhat we discovered was really shocking and disheartening from our findings.
โThe late Udugbo had a quarrel with his girlfriend and left the house at about 9 a.m on April 28 to avoid further altercation with his girlfriend.โ
According to him, the girlfriend called the police and along with the police they had gone out in search of Udugbo. He was later found by the police while he was driving on the road in town.
He said that Udugbo vehicleโs was stopped, and he was arrested and handcuffed.
โThe police took his car keys, left the car by the way and drove with him back to his house in the police car along with the girlfriend.
โHe was severely beaten by the cops in his house and he fainted. At this point, the landlordโs son feared and told the police to take him to the hospital.
โThe police refused and instead they took him to the police station where they claimed that he had allegedly committed suicide.
According to him, at about past 10 am, one of Udugboโs relatives went to the station and was told that Udugbo had committed suicide.
Okoli said:โWe do not accept this police story; we believed that he was killed right in the police station and hanged afterwards.โ
