Police disperse protesters against escape of murder suspect with tear gas

• Officer shoots superior, kills self in Ondo
The police yesterday used tear gas to disperse hundreds of angry youths who were protesting against the disappearance of a murder suspect of an eight-year-old girl, Ifeanyi Dike, from police custody in Port Harcourt.

Outraged by police negligence, human rights activists in Rivers State have called for the suspension of the State Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed.

Incensed by the failure of the police to re-arrest Ifeanyi, who had confessed to killing Victory Dike, his niece, hundreds of angry youths including the deceased relations, took to the streets in Eliozu area of Port Harcourt to demand that the police should produce Ifeanyi, who disappeared from their custody.

Ifeanyi had allegedly murdered Victory and harvested her eyes, tongue, breasts and private part purportedly for money ritual at the weekend.

But nemesis caught up with him as he was arrested by members of a vigilante group while trying to dispose of her corpse in a dumpsite.

The suspect was later taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Port Harcourt, from where he escaped.

One of the protesters, Wisdom Agu, said it was sacrilegious for the police to have failed to apprehend the suspect three days after he escaped under their custody, insisting that the protest was to put pressure on the police to produce the alleged culprit for trial.

But shortly after the protest started, seven police patrol vans arrived the scene shooting tear gas canisters into the air to disperse the irate youths, which forced them to beat a retreat.

Meanwhile, tragedy struck yesterday in Ondo as a police inspector attached to the state command, Abraham Aro, committed suicide after killing his superior for unknown reasons.

Aro, who allegedly shot the Superintendent of Police (SP) and Divisional Crime Officer, simply identified as Timothy to death at the Police Divisional Headquarters, Kajola, in Odigbo council, was said to have jumped into a well.

As at press time, however, no police source could ascertain the cause of Timothy’s killing by the junior officer.

It was, however, gathered that the corpses of the deceased had been deposited at the Ore General Hospital morgue after the Area Police Commander led a team of police officers to the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Femi Joseph, confirmed the report, saying investigation has commenced on the incident and the mystery would soon be unraveled.