Godwin Ekpo, the tricycle operator whose wife was shot dead by Corporal Muse Aremu, attached to the Isheri Oshun division, in Ijegun area of Lagos State, has been discharged from the hospital after undergoing surgery in his jaw, Vanguard reports
Ekpo who is obviously yet to get over the death of his breast-feeding wife, Comfort Idongesit, disclosed that she was gunned down by Aremu because he refused to give him N2,000 bribe.
He said: “I don’t know what I did to the policeman to warrant such calamity. I have never had any issue with the police all my life. I was returning from church that fateful night in the company of my wife and four children; Mary, 12; Blessing, 9; Abraham, 7; and 11-month-old Elijah. On reaching Obalagbe, along Ijegun road, some policemen stopped me. One of them came and demanded for N2,000. I told him the passengers were my family members and that I was returning from church. My wife who was with this baby (pointing to 11 months old Elijah), came down and was even explaining to the policeman. But he refused to listen. Before we knew it, he fired a shot which hit my wife on the head. She died right on the spot. The bullet pierced through her head, hit me in the jaw and right arm. That was all I could remember until I found my self in the hospital.
“Oh! The wife of my youth is gone. She was a friend, a sister, a wife and a mother to me. Where do I begin from? How do I take care of these children alone, especially Elijah?
“Although the Police tried their best in paying for the treatment but that cannot bring back my Comfort Idongesit. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police visited me in the hospital, where I was told that my children’s education would be taken care of. But they have not started school. We are still waiting for the next move.
“I am appealing to the Federal Government, the governors of Lagos and Akwa-Ibom states, as well as well meaning Nigerians, to come to my aid. My life has been shattered by that singular incident of September 16, 2015.”
Aremu and members of his team were arrested and arraigned before an Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrate’s Court on Friday, September 18, 2015, on a two- count charge of murder and causing grievous bodily harm.
The president of the court, Magistrate Afolashade Botoku, ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody for the next 30 days.
The case was adjourned until Monday, October 19, 2015.
