Murder of student: Police threaten star witnesses over new statement—Family

The family members of the late Joy Odama, the
200-level mass communication student
allegedly murdered in the house of one Alhaji
Usman Adamu, have cried out over what they
described as an alleged attempt to pervert
justice by threatening the star witnesses in the
murder investigation to write a new statement
changing their earlier position on the matter.
The family made the allegation even as
investigation into the cause of the death of the
student of Cross Rivers State University took a
new twist when two of the principal pathologists,
who conducted a fresh autopsy into the cause of
death, insisted that Joy did not die of cocaine
poisoning but from carbon monoxide.
A statement by Augustine Okechukwu,
President, Basic Rights Enlightenment
Foundation (BREF) said, “The police in her
characteristic manner has covertly deployed
another twist to pervert the cause of justice and
a coercive deception in the mysterious death of
the late Joy Odama.
“In a seeming bid to forestall the obvious truth
surrounding this gruesome murder, the police
high command has threatened the star
witnesses, Martha Hassan and father, Victoria
Ezekiel and father, plus Elizabeth, with arrest and
subsequent detention if they fail to appear at
Force Headquarters, Abuja, to give a fresh
statement.
“When the threats from the Investigation Police
Officer (IPO), Force Monitoring Unit, became
unbearable and unwholesome, Victoria and her
father, Mr. Ezekiel, had to succumb to the
pressure and reported at Force Headquarters
where Victoria was detained for over eight hours
because she refused to either alter her statement
or write a fresh one.
“The police kept threatening her until she was
made to sign a doctored statement from the
police before bail was granted late in the night
on Wednesday 21st June, 2017.
“It is noteworthy here that Victoria and her father
were not even allowed to go through the
statement before appending her signature.
“The Nigeria Police having failed in their futile
attempts at the National Hospital to alter the re-
conducted autopsy result is again engaging in
all manner of clandestine tactics and outright
manoeuvring to divert attention to kill the truth
in this case.
“We are calling on the Federal Government,
Cross River State Government, National
Assembly, Nigerian Bar Association, Federation
of International Women Lawyers, Nigerian Union
of Journalists, Civil Societies, Human Rights
Activists, Religious Bodies, Clergies, Public
Spirited Individuals and the world at large to
please monitor the exercise”.