By Victor Ofure Osehobo, Benin City
A Former lecturer at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma has prayed the Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry for victims of SARS and related abuses to approve a N1 billion compensation over his only son who was murdered by a police officer in 2003.
Dr. John Erimafa, told the panel that his son, Paul Erimafa,18, was shot and killed by a police officer, Sergeant Kalijaye while he was going to a cyber cafe to watch the Big Brother Africa show in Benin City.
Erimafa said, the boy was abducted and carried about but finally shot and killed near the residence of the State Chief Judge in the Government Reserved Area, GRA, Benin City by the Policeman who also failed in his attempt to smuggle him into the Governor’s office.
“Of course I don’t know for whatever reason they wanted to smuggle him to State House but the police at the State House did not allow them enter. They started carrying him about. You can imagine, from about 8:30pm that they abducted him, until 3am, they shot him dead in the front of the Chief Judge’s house”.
He said, “You can imagine, it is supposed to be a safe area where you don’t expect anybody to harass a child or any person but unfortunately, it happened right in the front of Chief Judge’s house, the then Justice Constance Momoh.
“He was accused of nothing rather they said he was being suspected. What do you expect them to say? He was alone, he has no knife and gun but right there, they fired five shots, two into the air, three others on him”.
He added that the shots forced security aides of the Chief Judge to come out, “… About eight of them, four police and four civil security details and these people were looking at them, the way the whole thing was going.
“He said I will shoot you and the boy asked why will he shoot him? Then, when he wanted to shoot him, the boy struggled with him and the boy forced him to throw away the gun and the boy raised alarm which drew the attention of the CJ’s security details who asked what is the matter?
“So, my son started telling them the story. The police now took his gun, and fired him on his two legs and the boy fell immediately as he was crying. The policeman abandoned him and ran to the State CID to invite his patrol team.
“And the boy was already groaning in pains. So, the policeman said so you are still alive? He fired him in his abdomen. You can see that the man really wanted the boy to be dead”, he said.
Dr Erimafa who also served as a civil Commissioner in the state said his late son who was about entering into the university to study political science had a dream to be president of Nigeria when he was killed.
He said though no amount of money can compensate for the loss of his son, which eventually led to his wife divorcing him, the panel would do well to prevail on the government to pay him the sum of N1billion to help assuage his pains.
