Adeda: Police arrest Education Director as home community rejects probe panel

ASABA — INVESTIGATION into the death of Deputy Director in the Delta State Ministry of Secondary Education, Mr. Unity Adeda, yesterday, entered new chapter, as the Police Command in the state confirmed the arrest of the Director, Exams and Standards in the ministry, Mrs. Clementina  Ojumah, bringing to six the number of persons in custody.

The development came as Adeda’s home community, Otovwodo in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state staged a protest over his death, restricting vehicular movement and commercial activities while giving the Delta State government a seven-day ultimatum to take action.

The community also rejected the administrative panel of inquiry constituted by the state government, saying neither the deceased’s family nor the community was represented.

The police confirmation followed an earlier announcement that the Commissioner for Secondary Education, Dr. Kingsley Ashibogwu, and other suspects had been taken into custody as part of investigations into the circumstances surrounding Adeda’s death.

Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, confirmed, yesterday, that Ojumah had turned herself in at the command headquarters.

Edafe said: “She reported herself Tuesday.”

The latest arrest brings the number of persons currently being held in connection with the investigation to six.

The police have continued to stress that the investigation was aimed at establishing the circumstances surrounding Adeda’s death and determining individual responsibility based on available evidence. 

Community 

shuts activities

At Otovwodo, the atmosphere was charged as residents marched through the community carrying placards with inscriptions, including: “Justice for Adeda”; “We are peaceful people, all we want is justice”; “Justice 4 unlawful killing of Adeda”, and “A killer cannot be a Commissioner.”

President General of the community, Prince Elvis Oharisi, said the community was demanding justice and would not accept a process it believed excluded the family and community.

Oharisi said: “The family of Adeda came reporting to us the incident that occurred on Thursday last week.

“As I’m aware, our son, Unity Adeda, an Assistant Director in the Ministry of Education, was murdered. They murdered our son.

“The community is grieved, and the community is calling for justice. We are telling the government of Sheriff Oborevwori, our governor, to bring our son alive to us in the community. We are giving them seven days to bring back our son to us. You cannot treat a human being the way he was treated.

“Those that have been apprehended, the commissioner, the director, and whoever has been apprehended, should not be released at all. If any one of them is released, we will not take it lightly. Justice should be served properly on this issue.”

On the government’s administrative panel, the community leader said: “The committee set up by the government, we are not satisfied with it, because the community was not represented in that committee, the family was never represented in that committee.

So, that committee, we have no iota of trust in that committee.”

He called for disciplinary action pending the outcome of the investigation, saying: “The governor should, as a matter of urgency, relieve the commissioner, the director of their duties as it was served to Izeze before justice can be actually obtained.”

The administrative panel began sitting earlier this week and is expected to submit its report within two weeks as the deceased’s family had also been pursuing an autopsy while police investigations continued.

‘We Want Government To Act’ -Youth Leader

Youth Leader of the community, Umudi Ohwofasa, said the protest would continue until the community received assurances that justice would be done.

He said: “It’s very painful for such a thing to happen to someone. So, we want the government to fish out the people that did this thing. They should bring them out.

“We need peace, if there’s no peace, there will be a war over this issue. So, we are appealing to the state government, Oborevwori, our governor.”

He said the community was dissatisfied with developments so far, stressing: “We will continue the protest. I cannot be satisfied in the sense that we have not heard anything that will make us satisfied over this issue.”

Family

insists on lustice

Mrs. Julie Adeda, sister-in-law to the deceased, said the family remained distressed by the circumstances surrounding his death.

She said: “He’s a very quiet person, and he’s the breadwinner of the family. We are looking up to him. Imagine somebody in that position, somebody will now go and kill that person.”

She called for the arrest and prosecution of anyone found culpable, saying: “They should track them, and let the law prevail. Let the law prevail in any angle.”

Mrs. Adeda stressed that the allegations against individuals must be properly established, saying: “I’m not suspecting any person, but the commissioner and the director have a case to answer.

“So now, we want justice to prevail. And any position they are in now, they should remove them from there. We don’t want to see them. We want them to face the law.”