How policemen sold corpse of UNICAL student to his school

Facts surrounding the whereabouts of a 300-level student of the Department of Accounting, University of Calabar, Derek Maurice-Enang, have emerged.

His cadaver was allegedly sold to the Anatomy Department of the same institution by a team of four policemen led by a sergeant, Anthony Idoko, attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Cross River State Police Command headquarters in Calabar at the cost of N11,000.

A 59-year-old widow, who is the mother of the deceased, Mrs. Enoh Maurice-Enang, had recently petitioned the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to take over the investigation of the missing Derek from the headquarters of the Zone 6 Command of the Nigeria Police in Calabar, alleging that Idoko abducted her 22-year-old son since April 16, 2014.

She also sent the same petition to Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke and the National Human Rights Commission, among others, for necessary action.

Maurice-Enang said in the petition, “My son was not of questionable character and had never been detained in any police station or had any previous matter with the police anywhere.

“Sgt. Anthony Idoko of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad plotted and arrested my son on April 16, 2014, and took him to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad Office at Diamond Hill, Calabar, where he murdered him.”

The day after he was arrested, Derek and five others were allegedly executed and their remains were traced to the Anatomy Department of the University of Calabar, where each of the body was said to have been sold for N11, 000.

“I searched for my son everywhere including the SARS office where we reported for days. The search came as a result of a statement made by one Ekpenyong Akom, a policeman and friend to Idoko, who said that my son ‘had an encounter with the police,’” she alleged.

“It was at Zone 6 that the truth came out through an eyewitness who was among those arrested that night but was lucky to have escaped being killed. The eyewitness said after they were arrested and kept in SARS office, Idoko later brought a young man who was identified as Derek.”

She said her source told her a SARS official came later with a flashlight and separated the suspects into two groups and that at about 12am on April 17, 2014, one of the group of six, which included Derek, was taken out with their hands tied to their back.

“According to the eyewitness who was later brought before the AIG to testify, when the SARS officials came back that night, one of them approached the detainees in their office, pointed his flashlight to his blood-stained clothe and told them ‘when you go back (released), do thanksgiving to God because others who were taken out have been sent on a long journey,” she said.

The petition continued, “The eyewitness said they were released on April 18 on bail without the police telling them the nature of their offence. Even in the SARS’ concocted story that they had an encounter with armed robbers and cultists where they claimed they killed five, the story excluded my son.

“It was when we told a police inspector in State Security Adviser’s Office that the location of my son’s phone was traced to SARS office, that my son was later mentioned.”

On why the police have not taken the matter to court, a senior police source, who did not want to be named, said, “We have sent a copy of the report to the Attorney-General of the State, Attah Ochinke. We expect him to prosecute the accused policemen. There is so much pressure coming from highly placed politicians in the state to give the accused a soft landing.”

A source at the state Ministry of Justice confirmed receipt of the petition but added that the ministry was constrained because of the interest of some top politicians in the state who want the matter swept under the carpet.

Meanwhile, an official of the Anatomy Department of UNICAL, who also preferred anonymity said, “My brother, it is the tradition here. It is a cartel. This one came out because because of the effort by Derek’s family to locate him.

“Bodies are brought here frequently by the police and they will just tell us the victims are robbers. We pay them as small as N11,000 for each body. We use them to train the students. We are not supposed to buy bodies but since we can’t have them elsewhere, the police are always a ready source,” the source explained.

The AIG in charge of Zone 6, Mr. Musa Daura, had suspected the way the police labelled the deceased robbers and summarily killed them while at the same time refused to let families see their bodies. Daura immediately set up an investigative committee to unravel the truth about the matter.

It was gathered that members of the panel immediately swung into action and during their investigation, visited the Anatomy Department of the University of Calabar where the Chief Mortuary Attendant, whose name could not be ascertained was uncooperative.

But one of the investigating police officers, who could not take the pranks, threatened to break open the morgue if his team was not granted access.

It was at that point that the team was granted access to see the bodies. On examination, it was discovered that the victims were shot in three places in the same position on the thorax at the region of the heart, debunking the claim by the police that the victims were armed robbers who died in a gun duel with the SARS men.

The committee had since completed their assignment and written a report indicting the policemen for extra-judicial killing and recommended their prosecution.

When contacted on telephone, the solicitor to the widow, Mr. James Ibor, said there was evidence that those indicted in the police report had hands in Derek’s killing.

He, therefore, called for justice, insisting that “it could happen to anybody’s child or brother.”

Speaking on the matter, the Zone 6 Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ibrahim Tasiu, said the matter had been referred to the Department of Public Prosecution, adding, “We are waiting for their expert opinion on the matter.”