Reps probe death of 15-yr-old Nigerian in Ghana
Reps probe death of 15-yr-old Nigerian in Ghana
The House of Representatives, yesterday, vowed to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of a 15-year-old Nigerian student, Austine Chukwuebuka Ogukwe, in Ghana.
Ogukwe, a senior secondary school, SSS 3, student of Ideal College, Community 5 in the Ghanaian port city of Tema, died on October 15, barely two weeks after he was enrolled in the school.
Mr. Obioma Ogukwe, father of the deceased, told the House Committee on Diaspora that on October 16 he received a phone call from the police in Ghana and was told that his son drowned the previous day in a river and that he should come to Ghana.
He said in Ghana, he was taken to the police hospital morgue, where the body of his son was kept.
Ogukwe said: "At the morgue, I discovered that he was stabbed in the rib and there were other very serious wounds with blood on his forehead and sides."
Police story
Ogukwe said the Police told him that his son's house master had taken him and other students for a jogging exercise, but at a point the house master diverted the children to a river to swim even though the Ghanaian housemaster is aware that it is a taboo in the culture to go to the river on Tuesdays.
He said he pointed out the injuries on several parts of his son's body to the Police and told them of his doubts about their claims.
He said when the Police showed him the picture of his son that was taken at the spot where his body was found, after he went missing for over six hours, there were substan-ces coming out of his mouth, which puts a lie to the report that he drowned in the river.
He told the House Committee headed by Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa that when the autopsy was conducted in his presence, blood was still gushing out from the wounds on his late son's body.
Dabiri-Erewa's promise
In her response, Dabiri-Erewa said it was one killing that will not go unresolved as unresolved death of Nigerians in Ghana was becoming a reoccurring decimal.
She said: "We promise you that this is one case that is not going to be swept under the carpet. We promise you that we shall do whatever is needful in this case.
"We will work with the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana to get to the bottom of this matter and other relevant groups would be consulted."
The committee also assured the parents of the deceased that now that the House of Representatives had intervened in the matter, they will ensure that the body is not buried by the Ghanaian authorities as they have been threatening to do until all issues arising from his mysterious death were resolved.
