The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has called on the Edo State Police Command to immediately arrest and prosecute all officers allegedly responsible for the death of its former chairman in the state, Kaduna Eboigbodin.
Gistmania recalls that Mr Eboigbodin, the former Edo State chairman of the union, slumped and died on Monday during a scuffle with policemen in Benin City.
The ugly incident occurred at a checkpoint in Upper Sakponba, Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state.
The command, in a statement, said it has ordered an investigation into the incident.
The statement added that the operatives might not have directly caused Eboigbodin’s death,
“but after aggravating the cause of his untimely death, they ran away and left him struggling for his life.”
However, NLC, in a statement issued on Thursday by its Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, said the explanation
“offered by the officers involved in this heinous crime is lame and ridiculous.”
According to NLC, nothing short of immediate arrest and prosecution of the officers involved in the incident “will satisfy us.”
The statement added:
“The Edo State Police Command, and indeed, the Nigeria Police Force, should resist the urge for a cover-up, as has often been the case when their officers overshoot their brief. “The Nigeria Police Force stands to gain nothing when it protects bad eggs or nurtures them in its fold in the name of managing its public image.”