Amarachi Nwakor, the sister of a 26-year-old businessman who was allegedly killed by policemen in Onitsha, Anambra State, on October 13, 2023, talks to IKENNA OBIANERI about the incident
What is your relationship with the deceased?
My name is Amarachi Nwakor. I am 23 years old. I am a student and currently live in Onitsha, Anambra State. He was my elder brother. I had three siblings.
How has his death affected you?
The police have thrown us into mourning with the killing of my gentle brother. What do they want us to do now? Who will take care of my mother? My education has now been suspended because of his death. He was the breadwinner of the family. I took the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and was called by the institution and I was preparing to go to the school next week to process my admission before this incident happened. My late brother was practically funding my mother’s petty business; now, his death has complicated her health condition. How long will this continue?
Can you recall your last moment with your brother?
He visited us that fateful day and we were together until evening when he said he was going to the main market to buy meat.
Did you follow him?
I went with him; we had barely got to Sokoto Road when we met about three policemen on a shuttle bus. They were asking for a direction and while my brother was attending to them, I saw a friend of mine. I went to her and we were exchanging greetings when, suddenly, we heard a gunshot, and when I turned back, my brother was on the floor while the policemen hurriedly reversed and zoomed off.
Was there an argument between your brother and the policemen?
My brother did not have an argument with them. They shot him and. unfortunately, he did not survive it. I know because he did not die instantly. After the policemen ran away, people around the vicinity rushed to him because the shooting created panic, you know the incident happened around the market. It was in that situation that the reason (why he was shot) was known. Shop owners around the scene heard the conversation between my late brother and the policemen.
How do you want the Anambra State Government and the Nigeria Police Force to handle the matter?
The killing of my brother should not be swept under the carpet. The police should tell us why they killed him. They have shattered our hope. We need justice for my brother who was killed. Who will take care of the children and wife he left behind? These are questions the government should answer. Killing an innocent person for no just cause? The government should come and help us and take care of his children and wife.
At the area command in Onitsha, they told us that the police officers had been detained at the police headquarters in Awka. But when we went to Awka, at the state CIID, together with my kinsmen to submit our petition, we saw the policemen who shot my brother laughing comfortably and making a mockery of us, saying that nothing will happen and that everything has been taken care of. They did not show any sign of remorse at all. Is this how citizens should be treated?
