A 50-year-old woman in Calabar is both sad and angry. Madam Lucy Dankwa, a mother of seven, told our correspondent that a policeman at a checkpoint in Anambra State killed her husband, Chief Dankwa Ndule, 57, over a paltry sum of N20. But the police have assured that they would order a probe into her allegations and punish anyone found culpable.
In an emotional voice, Madam Dankwa told us how her husband was killed.

How it happened
I was heading for October morning mass on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 when an unknown woman called me about 6am. She said she was calling from Nnewi Teaching Hospital, in Anambra State. She informed me that my husband was about being taken into the theatre for surgery as a result of injuries he sustained from gunshots.

I was shocked. The woman repeated that he was shot and they were trying to get all necessary documents to enable them push him into the theatre. She said I should call in 30 minutes, that by then she would be close to my husband so that I could talk with him.

When I called back, my husband picked the phone and said: “My dear, the police have killed me. As we were coming back from Lagos, our bus got to Iseke junction, around Ihiala in Anambra State, and the police demanded N20 from our driver. To avoid much argument, I brought out N50 and gave the driver to hand over to the police, as I was rushing to keep an appointment by 5:30pm in Calabar. After the driver had handed over the money, the policeman in front just opened fire on me and the next thing was that I saw myself in a pool of blood.”

I consoled my husband and said I would be coming to see him at the hospital the following day. The following day, I headed for Nnewi to see him after the operation. I later saw him and the doctor handed over the pellets extracted from his body to me. His right hand was shattered and the bullet pierced through his stomach. I almost collapsed, but the nurses, who were around were consoling me.

From that time, I was always at the hospital, doing all that was needed and expecting him to recover fully. We bought expensive drugs that were prescribed for him. I even bought some drugs worth over N400, 000 just to ensure that he survived.

A painful death
But on October 20, 2011 about 5pm, he told me to bring my seat closer, which I did. He then said I should kiss him. I said, ah, because the nurses were looking at us there. When he insisted, I kissed him and I said, ‘Mr. Ndule, your love is becoming something else.’ I started praying for him. Then one of the doctors came out and tested his breathing level and on holding his hands, my husband just turned swiftly and his eyes turned white. But luckily he was revived at that moment with some analgesics.

Shortly after that, the pains started again and were becoming unbearable, especially at the stomach side where the bullets penetrated. Throughout the night, he didn’t sleep due to the pains and the following morning, I pleaded with those who came to see him to give him some time to rest. About 5pm that fateful day, he called me again and said I should come closer and suddenly his eyes turned white again and I called the doctor immediately. I started calling him pet names. But he didn’t reply. He was already gone. I screamed and cried to high heavens because at that point, I knew he was dead and gone.

Family’s reaction
The incident happened aboard the bus (name of the transport company and registration number of the bus withheld by us). When they got to the Iseke police checkpoint, popularly called “Lion Gate” at Ihiala, the police officer opened fire on my husband. When he realised what he had done, the policeman wanted to run away. All the policemen quickly entered their patrol van and drove off into Ihiala.

But the passengers and passers-by went after them and caught them just before Ihiala where they were hiding. The following day, they took all of them in that patrol team to Awka Police Command and kept them there. So far, we have not taken any action. We were only praying that my husband survived before we knew the next step.
When the police came from Awka to take our statements, I told them that none of us -myself, the children and entire family members - were in the bus. So, what do we do?

We wanted him to get better first so that he could pursue the case to conclusion. They took his pictures as evidence, believing that when he recovered, he would give his statement while the driver would be the witness. I even told the mother of the police officer, who shot my husband to go and pray for his survival first before any other thing.

Many sins at Iseke checkpoint
I can say authoritatively that Iseke junction has become a killer point for trigger-happy policemen. A lot of people have been killed at that spot because of just N20. I was told that within the period that they killed my husband, some other persons were killed there and tagged armed robbery suspects.

My husband was a member of the Police Public Relations Community Committee, PPRCC, yet he got that type of wicked treatment from them. Even if you want to shoot, why not shoot at the tyre so that the bus would not move an inch? Rather he shot straight at the door to kill the driver before it caught my husband. The bullet shattered his hand so much that even if he had survived, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything with that hand in his life.

Killer must not go unpunished
I appeal to the government to pay policemen well. If they are well paid, maybe they will stop these barbaric practices. But I want government to prosecute all those involved in my husband’s killing because it is a murder case. As a family, we have vowed to pursue the case with the last drop of our blood.
He is our pillar and it is sad that they have demolished the pillar. They were sent there to check illegal activities of criminals on our roads but they end up killing innocent and law-abiding citizens. Their hands are always on the trigger and before you know it they have released the bullets. But we will fight this to a logical conclusion. My husband’s killer must not go unpunished.

But the police have said they would investigate the incident and punish the offenders. In a telephone chat with our correspondent, the Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Police Command, Awka, Mr. Emeka Chukwu Emeka, denied knowledge of such incident but promised to get the details.

His words: “I’m sorry because as you are talking with me, I am not aware of such matter. For now, I don’t have details but I promise to make more enquiries as regards that. Nobody has briefed me on the matter but I promise to make some findings. I can assure you that anyone found culpable will face the law.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/28/national-28-11-2011-004.html