The family of Udeh Orokpo of Efugo Otukpa, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State has called on the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu to order the Anambra State Police Command to release the body of their son, ASP Akor Udeh, whether dead or alive.
ASP Udeh was allegedly killed in a communal clash in the Odekpe community of Anambra State on April 23, 2020.
In a statement signed by Simon Patrick Akor for the family and made available to Daily Trust on Wednesday in Awka, Anambra state capital, the family called on the Inspector-General of Police and the Anambra State Police Command to update them on the whereabouts of ASP Akor Udeh.
According to the statement, ASP Akor was a serving police officer at Mobile Police Force (Mopol) 29, Anambra State, and has not been in contact with his family since April 23, 2020.
The statement said reports reaching the family indicated that ASP Akor went with other police colleagues to quell a communal clash over a boundary dispute in Odekpe community in Anambra State on April 23, during which four persons were reportedly killed in the bloody encounter between Odekpe and Alla community in Anambra West Local Government Area of the State.
The statement further said the officers were ambushed and kidnapped by youths from the community, and that some of them were later released, but ASP Udeh was not among those released.
The statement also disclosed that an unknown person had later used ASP Udeh’s phone number and called his younger brother, Simon Patrick Akor, informing him that ASP Udeh has been killed and his body buried in a shallow grave in one of the communities.
According to the statement, the caller had further said that he would discard the phone together with the SIM card after the call so that it would not be used to trace him, and since then, the number has been off.
Insisting that several efforts made to reach the Anambra State Police Command to know the true situation were in vain, the statement said “The State PPRO is not answering calls while the DPRO keep saying they will get back to the family”.
“We, therefore, call on the Inspector General of Police to urgently tell us the fate of our brother. If Officer Akor is still alive, we call on the IGP to help facilitate his release to reunite with his family as his wife was just delivered of a baby boy on April 26, 2020, in his absence.
“If indeed, he has been killed, the least we demand from the police authorities, which he served diligently for many years, is to help us secure his corpse for the family to give him a befitting burial.
“The mental torture and psychological trauma the family has gone through in the last few days is unbearable” the statement further said.
The Anambra State Police Command spokesperson, SP Haruna Mohammed told Daily Trust that ASP Udeh was among officers deployed to maintain peace in Odekpe community of Anambra State on Thursday 23rd April 2020 following the eruption of a communal clash between two communities.
He said since then, the officer remained missing and efforts were ongoing by the Police Command to locate his where about.
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