The children of Mr. Levi Opara have demanded that the policemen at the Imo State Police Command’s Tiger Base be promptly charged with the deceased’s murder. Punch reports that Ihuoma Opara, the complainant and dead person’s daughter, stated that their mother, Mrs. Chioma Opara, and her father, a 46-year-old resident of Ezedibia, Emekuku in Owerri-North LGA, had a small argument. As a result, on October 15, 2023, the police arrested Mr. Opara after receiving information from an informant.
He was in good health when the family went to see the police the following day, but their attempts to get him released were unsuccessful. Their return date was instructed to be October 18, 2023. “We were astonished when the IPO and team leader alerted us that my father, who was never unwell or suffering from any type of ailment the day he was arrested, was dead,” she said when she returned on Wednesday. When we asked more questions, the IPO and the team leader first told us he was at the police clinic, but they subsequently told us his body had already been sent to the Federal Medical Center in Owerri.
“On arrival at the said Federal Medical Centre, we saw the lifeless body of our father, and on a closer observation, discovered that my father’s body had several bruises as well as knife cuts on his neck which were hurriedly stitched either before or after his death.
“As against the wish of the police, the family fought by writing a petition to the Inspector General of Police demanding that an autopsy of the body be done with our consent and in the presence of our medical personnel. The scheduled autopsy which was to be carried out on Thursday, October 19, 2023, around 10 am was thwarted as the police refused to show up on the agreed day.”
She added that after the case was finally moved to Zone 9 Umuahia, the Inspector General granted their request and mandated the immediate arrest of everyone connected to the crime. Ihuoma further revealed to PUNCH Metro that “our father was starved, tortured, and murdered,” according to the report that was issued after the autopsy and toxicology on the late Levi Opara’s body were completed.
“We sent the report to Assistant Inspector General of Police, Umuahia upon which the family requested the release of the mortuary tally to enable us to bury the deceased which was granted after much consideration and he was buried on December 15, 2023.
“After the burial, the family requested that the file be transferred to the office of the Director of Public Persecutions, Owerri, Imo state for immediate arraignment of all those involved in his death.The DPP made recommendations after a comprehensive evaluation of the police file sent to the Ministry of Justice by the Assistant Inspection of Police and recommended the arraignment of all those involved in the murder of my father. But until now, they are still delaying the arraignment of the police officers and those involved in the said murder.”
Ihuoma also pleaded with the Federal Government, the Inspector General, and Governor Hope Uzodimma to become engaged in the case and see to it that everyone accountable for their father’s demise is held accountable.
“We want the law to take its full course on the matter by arraigning all those involved in the case. The death of our father has left us devastated and we want the government to ensure that the police do not frustrate the arraignment of all those involved.”
“My family is in total disarray and shocked at the wicked and gruesome manner in which my father was killed. And since the perpetrators have been identified, arrested, autopsy and toxicology conducted with the report submitted to all parties involved, which signified the conclusion of the investigation, I’m wondering why the police have continued to delay the immediate arraignment of those involved”, she added.
As of the time of publication, ASP Henry Okoye, the Imo State Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, had not returned calls regarding the matter.
