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Nasarawa CP confirms arrest of principal suspect
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Says autopsy delayed release of corpse to family
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House of Reps orders probe, demands urgent report
By Aondover Tyowase (Abuja), and Abubakar Abdullahi (Lafia)
The murder of the late Tehile Timothy Chiya, a student of the Isa Mustapha Agwai
Polytechnic in Lafia, penultimate week, allegedly by some military personnel suspected to be men of the Operation ‘Whirl Stroke’, on grounds of chasing after ‘Yahoo Boys’ has gone awry, and taken a twisted dimension.
The soldiers were alleged to have operated in cahoots with some accomplices ostensibly to identify potential ‘yahoo boys’, interrogate them and extract money from them.
The Late Chiya, until his gruesome murder in the hands of the said military personnel on trumped-up charges of cybercrime was a graduating mechanical Engineering student of Isa Agwai polytechnic,Lafia.
He met his untimely death on September 8, 2024, less than 48 hours to his graduation.
Our investigations revealed that the late Tehile was arrested, tortured, and in a desperate move to cover up for the crime, his killers took his corpse and deposited it at the Anatomy Department of the Federal University Lafia.
Further checks revealed that the deceased was whisked away by the military personnel operating under operation ‘Whirl Stroke’ with a certain captain Kaakara (full names withheld).
The deceased was taken on arriving at the school premises on a motorcycle to sit for his final examination papers alongside his friend identified as Favour.
A source has revealed that preliminary investigation has been conducted, and it indicated that the late Tehile died of torture.
Checks also showed that some of the officers have been identified and will go through judicial trials for murder.
Tehile’s corpse was laid to rest in his home town of Taraku, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue state after the inquest.
It was gathered that some military operatives in Lafia had gained notoriety for extorting innocent people, particularly students of the Isa Agwai Polytechnic on allegations of cybercrime with the intention to intimidate and extort them.
The soldiers on the 6th of August were said to have arrested several students including the late Tehile, but released only those who could pay their way out.
Barrister Ayiwulu Baba of the Principal Black Peak Chambers, Lafia and counsel to the victims had petitioned the Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa State over the unfortunate murder of Chiya and also wrote the military command alleging brutality of innocent people, especially the latest victims.
Speaking to Citizenship correspondent in a telephone interview, the legal practitioner said, “As I speak with you now, I am with some of the victims of this military personnel brutality.
“They are briefing me right now in my office. I have written the military command in Abuja and right now my secretary is presently submitting the letter to the Chief of Army staff. I wrote to the Commissioner of Police. I have also written the joint task force and I am taking steps to enforce the fundamental rights of those victims of this brutality of the military and extortion.
“I believe they should go and confront bandits and stop this civilian brutality and extortion. What they do is to come to the polytechnic to club and arrest people. They will arrest you, claim you are a ‘yahoo boy’ and ask you to transfer money to them before they allow you to go. If you don’t have the money they will take you to their detention facility and that is their stock in trade”.
Throwing more light on what took place, Barrister Baba said, “What happened was that they wanted to cover up for their actions so they refused to take his body to a public mortuary or private mortuary, instead they took it to the Anatomy Department of the Federal University of Lafia. We had to trace the corpse to the Specialist Hospital here in Lafia alongside his father and it was at the specialist that we got a hint that we should go to Sandaji Hospital mortuary. When we got there, they said nobody was brought there. Somebody again hinted us that he heard them saying they will take it to the university and that we should check there. I was reluctant because it sounded abnormal but we decided to take the risk to go there only for us to discover the body of Tehile at the Anatomy Department and it was shocking that they were already conducting examinations (practicals) on his corpse “.
Asked about the likely intention of such unprofessional and unethical conduct, Baba said, “They did that to cover up the offence, they know his house, they know the person who pointed at him to be arrested. His own friend that was arrested with him is still alive, although in the hospital, they did not even tell him that Tehile was dead; it was after his death that they transferred the matter to the police station and they did not even tell the police that one of the boys was dead. It was shocking that they even marked Tehile’s corpse as an unknown person and a cultist, they did not even tag him as a student. This is somebody that was on a motorcycle going to the examination hall, they did not even deem it fit to report to the polytechnic where they picked him.
“They went and dashed the corpse to the Anatomy Department of Federal University of Lafia, just because they feel he is a nobody, they feel they can cover up that crime, but unfortunately for them we have uncovered that crime”.
Speaking on the legality of the conduct of the Federal University of Lafia, the lawyer said:
“Legally, the university skipped all the procedures of accepting corpses because the body was not advertised, the university did not make any request for a corpse for students of the Anatomy Department or any other department for whatever purposes. There was no record of unclaimed bodies anywhere, so how did the Anatomy Department arrive at accepting a corpse and commencing practicals on it.
“so, there was no legal backing to all that the university did, it is even strange that soldiers will bring a corpse to the university and donate just like that, they did not have a corona order and it didn’t pass through the Court. What the university did was wrong and I think they have a case to answer. I will write them, it didn’t occur to me initially but now that you have raised the matter, I agree with you completely that the university did the wrong thing and it is culpable as well”.
Public Relations Officer for the Federal University of Lafia Abubakar Ibrahim, in a response expressed surprise at first when contacted .
He told our correspondent that he was going to make findings and revert within three hours .
When our correspondent called again, he simply said, there was a corpse in the university anatomy department but it was for safe keeping.
Asked if the Anatomy Department of the University was a better facility to safe-keep corpses rather than a mortuary, Abubakar asked our correspondent to contact the late Tehile’s father to visit the university and confirm if the corpse was that of his son.
All efforts to inform the university image manager that the father of the deceased alongside his counsel had already identified the corpse only fell on deaf ears as he rather insisted that his only response was what he said.
Investigations however revealed that an anatomy department of a university cannot summarily accept corpses and even commence experimentals on them without the due process of court approvals.
Contacted for comment, the Nasarawa State Commissioner of Police told Citizenship Daily reporter that one Samuel Ejembi has already been arrested in connection with the matter.
The Commissioner of Police, Umar Nadada further confirmed to our reporter that the corpse of the deceased had already been released to the family.
According to Police Commissioner Nadada, the idea of retaining the corpse for sometime was to conduct an autopsy.
His words: “Pathologist has taken the samples from the deceased corpse for further process of the autopsy.”
He added that several people have written and submitted their statements regarding the incident and that the police have commenced full investigations into the matter.
Irked by the conduct of the military officers who allegedly cut-short the life of Terhile Achinya, the member representing Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency of Benue state in the National Assembly, Honourable Asema Achado has drawn the attention of parliament to the matter, through a petition against the Nigerian Army, particularly the operation ‘Whirl Stroke’ in Lafia.
The lawmaker called on the House of Representatives to conduct a detailed investigation into what he described as “the unjust murder of Mr Achinya, Terhile Timothy”, noting that the petition was absolutely important to unravel and apply punitive measures on those found culpable.
In his petition, the lawmaker prayed the House to “Investigate the alleged brutality of the Nigerian Army officers leading to Mr. Achinya Terhile Timothy’s murder.
“Curtail the alleged abusive excesses exhibited by some personnel to prevent future occurrences.
“Reinstate the Nigerian military’s important role in safeguarding citizens’ lives and properties.
“Conduct a thorough investigation to ensure justice for the deceased, Mr. Terhile Timothy Achinya”.
Upon his presentation, the House mandated its public petitions panel to conduct the investigation and report back within 4 weeks.
A staff of the university who did not want his name mentioned told Citizenship that “what you are saying is just a small fraction of the kind of lawlessness and corruption going on in this institution and unfortunately the management looks the other way.
“It is terrible to hear that a head of the anatomy department could put the university into such a mess and embarrassment. What right does he have to take a corpse from individuals without any due process. Is Anatomy a mortuary?
He continued,” If I were the Vice chancellor heads will roll because this is unacceptable, embarrassing and libelous. This is bad publicity for this school and can drag this institution into the mud. Other schools will be laughing at us because it is preposterous for a university to jump all processes in a serious matter such as this. It’s shameful”.
All efforts to speak with the father of the deceased at the time of filing this report did not yield any positive result because of the state of his mind and the burial arrangements .
The late Terhile left behind a wife and two kids.
