FIJ
Ugochi Robert and Victor Richard were returning home from a private hospital on December 10, 2022, when policemen stopped and ordered them off a commercial motorcycle.
Ugochi, Richard’s girlfriend, recalled a policeman tapping Richard and asking that he get off and follow him to a Hilux vehicle where more policemen were waiting.
In a phone conversation with FIJ, Ugochi said Richard did as instructed, while she waited for him across the road from where the Hilux was parked.
Moments after, “he came out of the vehicle and crossed as if he was coming to meet me, but he began running and the police started shooting”.
Richard died in that encounter, and at press time, his body was deposited in the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri, Imo State. His family has been unable claim it.
Speaking with FIJ about the incident, Ugochi said, “We were coming back from a hospital where we both went to receive treatment. When we got to Number One Junction in Owerri, we saw policemen doing ‘stop and search’.
“We continued going on the motorcycle we boarded, but when we reached them, they asked us to stop. One policeman tapped my boyfriend on his back and ordered him to come down.
“I also got down and stood by the road while they crossed him to the other side where other policemen were waiting in a Hilux van.
“They collected his phone from him after he got down from the bike.
“Moments after he got into the vehicle, he came out and crossed as if he was coming to meet me, but he began running, and the police started shooting.
“They were still with his phone. I think he wanted to collect money from me to give them but decided to run instead.”
She said she ran for her life, and so did other residents of the area.
