Widow of church catechist stabbed to death by truck conductor cries for justice

Chris Anucha

 

For  the late David Wagbara, 41, December 7, 2018, was like any other day. As a devout Catholic and catechist at  St. Gabriel Catholic  Church, Rumuosi, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, he  observed his routine early morning  prayers that fateful day, had his breakfast and went to his office for the  day’s activities.

In  the evening of  the same day, he   also attended church service and came  back to his  company, Pemage Mortuary, located at Rumuosi junction,   along  the East West Road. The  time was about  past 8.00pm. Wagbara never had the premonition  that death was lurking around the corner, in fact, in front of his  office, as he was  gruesomely stabbed to death few minutes  after   his return from church.

He was allegedly stabbed by  a motor boy, otherwise known as conductor, of a   truck, conveying wheat  from  northern part of the country.

Trouble  started when  the driver parked the truck in front of his office  but  Wagbara  asked him to re-park it, as it was blocking  his mortuary. The victim was said to have received a phone call from some persons, who were  coming to deposit a corpse in the mortuary for embalmment, and was anxiously waiting for them outside before the  driver   parked the truck.

The Nigerian Xpress gathered that it was the  phone call  from his clients that made  him to  quickly come back to his office, after the   evening  church service.

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As the heated argument between him and  the driver persisted, the conductor, in defence of his boss (driver), went wild and in the process, stabbed the victim. Three other  persons were also stabbed with what an eyewitness described as  “poisonous ring” or “mysterious ring.” After the stab, Wagbara fell on the ground and started  bleeding profusely.

Among  the  four persons,   who  were allegedly   stabbed  by   the driver  and his conductor, identified as  Eze  Kingsley  from Abakiliki, Ebonyi    State, was  Mr. Victor Emenike from Ideato,  Imo  State. He is a   driver at Pemage Mortuary.

Wagbara was later rushed to the University of  Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital(UPTH) where he was  confirmed dead and his body deposited in the  hospital’s morgue.

Ironically, Victor, who rushed his boss to UPTH underrated  his own  stab, brushing it aside as a “little wound”. The victim, who had no plan of being hospitalised at UPTH, got the shock of his life  when he started developing swollen stomach.

He said: “I started having  protruding  stomach and gradually losing consciousness,” he told The Nigerian Xpress. He was immediately admitted in UPTH where he underwent major  surgery  on his stomach  and was on admission for three weeks before he was discharged. According  him,  his friends, relatives and well wishers  paid  his  medical bill of  N270, 000.

“I thought the stab was a minor one. I didn’t take it seriously because I was after saving the life of my boss, who was lying critically on the ground, bleeding,” he revealed.

According to Victor’s account, it was not only the conductor that was involved in the stabbing. He disclosed that the driver, whose identity was not disclosed  was also involved in the stabbing.

Meanwhile, David Wagbara’s widow, Esther, is sad and heartbroken, not only because of the loss of her husband, but because of the attitude of the Nigeria Police in the whole  matter. According to her, the police are playing double standard as far as  investigation into  the case  is concerned

She  is also  angry that the Rivers State Police Command released the driver from detention, including the impounded truck on the excuse that both were not responsible for the death of Wagbara.

Pouring out her heart to the reporter, the grieving mother of four (three girls and one boy)  condemned the action of  the  police in releasing the driver and the truck, even when the body of her husband is still at the mortuary.

“It was not only the conductor that stabbed the four persons. The driver is the prime suspect, the mastermind of the  trouble that led to the death of my husband. If he did not park the truck in front of my husband’s  mortuary, there wouldn’t have been exchange of words in the first place, which resulted in his death.

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“How can police  convince me that the  driver and truck were not involved in the death of my husband? Police should re-arrest him and bring back the truck to the police station,” she demanded.

Narrating  what transpired between her late husband and the driver, Esther, 31, explained that he was in front of  the office, waiting for some people, who were coming to deposit corpse at the mortuary before the driver used his truck to block the office.

“He told   him to re-park, to pave way for the ambulance conveying the corpse. But the driver refused. Instead, he started abusing my husband and  there was exchange of words between them. I  went upstairs to get something for someone, and not quite up to  ten minutes  that I went up, I saw the driver removing the truck, and when I came down, I saw my husband lying on the ground, soaked  in blood.

“ I called Victor to come and assist to rush him to the  hospital. Victor was also stabbed but he managed to drive my husband to the hospital. The driver and the conductor were later arrested after the bridge  at Emohua,  in Emohua Local government Area of the state. I want justice, I want the  killers of my husband to be brought to book. I am sad, how can police release the driver that caused the death of my husband? The police didn’t investigate the matter properly before releasing the driver and the truck.”

The Nigerian Xpress gathered that after Wagbara was confirmed dead, some youths from Rumuosi  went on rampage, protesting the killing of one of their own. It was in the process that  they stormed where some traders, mostly  from  the northern  part of the country traded, damaged and looted their wares, including  tubers of yam. They  also allegedly looted contents of the truck.

According to the widow,  Nigeria Police were angry over the unlawful acts of the Rumuosi youths whom they  accused of looting  wares, belonging to innocent members of Hausa community. The police,  she further disclosed, claimed that the Hausa community lost property worth N36 million while the driver lost goods worth N8 million.

The grieving widow narrated how  police  told  her that  what was left in the truck was sold to compensate the Hausa community, based on the petition  Hausa  community wrote against Wagbara’s  family.

“Let justice be done. Someone cannot come to someone’s house and kill him just like that. I am sure this is not the first time the driver and his conductor were stabbing  people to death. Nigeria Police  should be searching  truck drivers properly, to prevent them from stabbing people. They killed my husband, someone, who solved  people’s problem at the expense of his own problems. His children have been asking  about him, they have been asking me why he has not returned from the church. They really miss him,” she lamented.

On the plans of burying the deceased, she expressed hope that he would be buried this month, after  getting death certificate and autopsy, which the police said would cost N100,000.

In  an interview  with The Nigerian Xpress, Victor described his late boss, as a  very kind man. Another staff, Edward Ugoh, who said he had worked with Wagbara for the  past six years,  described  him as man of the people.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), denied the  allegation of compromise.

According to him, after thorough investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), it was discovered that the driver was not involved in stabbing  the victim, hence, his release from detention.

However, he said the suspect, Eze,  was  facing  murder charge at  the  High Court in Port Harcourt.