Omemiroro Maxwell Ogedegbe: When I was contacted to be a guest speaker by the organizers of the memorial lecture in Honour of Late Chief Ogbe Onokpite, with a lecture theme built around extrajudicial killing of Ogbe Onokpite and the 2015 election, I did my presentation in my capacity as a lawyer on the basis of information available to public domain as reproduced here under in brevity thus;1. That on 26 November 2011, the innocent reception of Beeland hotel was coerced to lead security operatives to the room 304 lodged by Late Ogbe Onokpite.
2. That upon his arrest from his hotel room the police from the area commander’s office shot his two legs in public glare within the hotel premises outside the main building, blind folded him, stripped him naked and took him to their warri area command office where he was executed.
3. The ex commissioner of police in a press statement made available to the public on the 27th I.e the very next day claimed Ogbe was a gun runner as two AK 47 riffles were found in the booth of a car discovered to be associated with him.
In the response of the police to an application filed at the high out wari the police claimed they acted in self defense as Ogbe shot at their inspector with a pistol.
The law is settled any killing not authorized by law is illegal and from the identification of the remains of Ogbe he was shot in several vital parts which paved way for his death.
The issue is, can the police haven arrested Ogbe in his room be defending themselves in public where they shot his legs as the shooting took place outside his room. More so, was Ogbe with a gun when he was arrested this was not contained any where in the press release by the then C.P.
I was driving home after the lecture when a lawyer sighted the barge made for the memorial which Comrade Rex Anighoro decorated me with at the venue prompting him to stop me.
The lawyer is a very senior lawyer and a comrade who have been working behind the scene and on his way to Asaba on the Sunday before the event had an accident at the spot where I saw him.
He showed me a police report which sent him to an emotional trauma for days. After reading through the voluminous report I swept. The police did an extensive investigation and recommended that five of their officers including the then area commander Warri should be prosecuted by the Attorney General of Delta state as;
1. The ballistic report reveals the piston presented as that alleged use by Ogbe was not capable of shooting the cartridge attacked with it.
2. The two guns were planted in the boot of the Honda car by the then area commander.
3. No reasonable man will use a piston to shoot at a full squad of police officers all armed With an AK47 riffle each
The attorney of delta has refused upon receipt of police demand for trial of Five of it’s officers has refused to prosecute till this very day.
I will not say anything else but assure you Ogbe did not die in vain and in whatever thing we do let’s always remember the scripture “for we have brought nothing into the world neither can we take anything out”.
The death of Ogbe was held to be politically motivated by the police but I comfort you my comrades that no man can assume the position of the Almighty to take a human life as the Almighty has himself pronounced a cure on such one when he said “he who live by the sword dies by the sword”. While the almighty has decreed a time to be born and a time to die for all those with a penchant in taking human life may the sword (gun as in our days) never depart from their household.
