Human rights lawyer, Barr. Rockson Igelige has called on the Inspector General of Police to investigate what he described as an "extrajudicial killing" of a frontline Isoko activist, Anthony Ogbalor aka Dracula.
Human rights lawyer, Barr. Rockson Igelige has called on the Inspector General of Police to investigate what he described as an "extrajudicial killing" of a frontline Isoko activist, Anthony Ogbalor aka Dracula.
Reports on the media have it that Dracula took ill in detention and was rushed to an undisclosed hospital, where he allegedly died.
While reacting to the rumors of his death, Rockson said that there is suspected foul play over the unusual death of Dracula and demanded a thorough investigation into the matter.
Igelige says: "The death news of Dracula while in detention is shocking and most suspicious. This is a clear case of extrajudicial killing and it must not be taken loosely. Every accused man has a mandatory right to fair hearing in a court of competent jurisdiction. The police failed in this regard.
"If someone arrested had confessed another, the new suspect should be given his right to a fair hearing, not to be brutalized and murdered illegally. There is every reason to think that something is fishy behind the scene. Dracula must have died out of excessive beating or even through poison while in detention, and as long as no law court pronounced him guilty of what he was accused of, the Inspector General of Police has a duty to ensure that justice is done to the deceased."
"The policemen that arrested Dracula, the IPO of the case, and the DPO in charge of the police station he was first arrested to, as well as the Commissioner of Police in Delta State, including the former that hurriedly paraded Dracula before the press should be investigated immediately. The IG needs to be sure who they were in talks with before, during, and after the arrest of Dracula. This case must be treated seriously to restore public confidence in the police as it is currently being rumored that the police must have connived with the enemies of the deceased to kill him."
