UNIPORT Final-Year student killed by Police van driving against Traffic

A police van driving against traffic has crushed to death a final-year engineering student of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, named Edah Oghenekevwe.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the van, with number plate, NPF1791D, driven by a policeman, identified as Inspector John Kanu, crushed Oghenekevwe on Sunday at the Assemblies of God Church Junction, Alakahia, Port Harcourt.

According to eyewitnesses, the van was moving against traffic when it ran into the deceased, who was said to be in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and was returning from church. He was thereafter rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital where he died.

According to an eyewitnesses,

“After hitting Edah (Oghenekevwe), the policemen tried to escape, but they were stopped by passersby and eyewitnesses who demanded that the victim be taken to a hospital. The policemen agreed and rushed him to the UNIPORT Teaching Hospital, but pretended as if they found him on the road and picked him up.

“I heard that they told the nurses that they were not aware of how he came about the accident. But the nurses were smart and they took down the details of one of the policemen. Unfortunately, the young man died around 7.30pm.”

The policemen, when contacted by the family, were said to have denied involvement in the accident and had earlier tried to escape when they saw the accident but couldn’t due to intervention of passers by.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, who confirmed the student’s death, said investigations were ongoing to ascertain whether or not the police were involved in the incident.

He said, “We received the report of the incident, and right now, we are investigating the matter. The corpse has been deposited in a morgue and it is awaiting an autopsy.

“We want to assure members of the public that there is nothing like a cover-up. Whoever is found wanting in the killing of this young man, whether it is an accident or manslaughter, will be investigated and charged to court to answer to the crime.