The mother of an 18-month-old baby girl, and the grandfather, have petitioned the Plateau Commissioner of Police over an alleged murder of their daughter.
They are seeking justice and have called on the police to unravel the mystery surrounding the killing of the innocent girl.
The late baby, Christabel Uzoma Okoli, was allegedly murdered by an unidentified person, who ripped her tummy open at the Rock Haven residence of her parents in Jos North LGA of Plateau in the evening of Sept. 15, 2020.
The maternal- grandfather of the late child, Chief Jerry Egede, has therefore petitioned the Plateau Commissioner of Police through Barrister Edith Idemudia of Chris Atibaka & Co; the Royal Solicitors, for prompt investigation of the circumstance surrounding the murder and bring the perpetrators to book.
In the petition dated September 17 and obtained by The Nation on Friday, Egede claimed that he suspected a foul play.
According to him and the deceased mother, the baby was hale and hearty and sleeping on the couch in her paternal grandfather’s sitting room in the evening of that fateful day of her alleged murder.
He said that it was later after the mother had finished cooking dinner and had served her father in-law upstairs, that she heard people shouting and crying.
“On rushing upstairs, she saw her daughter lying flat on the floor dead and in the pool of her blood with her tummy ripped open with the intestines outside lying on the ground.”
“The dead baby’s paternal grandfather, Mr Alloy Okoli, had invited a local vigilante, who searched the room and found a blood stained knife, whose whereabouts is currently unknown to the petitioners.”
“Although the case was reported at the “A” Division Police Station, by the Okolis, but up till now, the police have failed to take action as expected as they didn’t take the corpse into their custody.”
“To our daughter’s (deceased mother’s) annoyance and utter shock, the deceased was hurriedly retrieved from the mortuary and buried the next day, Sept 16, 2020 without her (mother’s) consent,” the petitioners claimed.
Reacting to the incident, the Plateau Police Command’s Public Relation Officer (PPRO), ASP Gabriel Ubah, confirmed receipt of the petition and that the Police had begun investigation on the incident.
According to The Nation Newspaper, Ubah said that the police would leave no stone unturned toward unraveling the perpetrators of the heinous act and make sure that justice is done.
