Anguish, as Enugu Govt seizes body of Dubai returnee shot dead during traders’ protest

The Enugu State Government has been accused of confiscating the corpse of Bonaventure Odoh, who was allegedly shot dead by the police on July 27, 2023 during a protest staged by traders at the Ogbete Main Market, Enugu, and refusing to release him to the family for burial.

The traders had taken to the street to march against an the sealing of shops in the market by the authorities of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), as part of the enforcement of an order by the government for workers and traders to resist the regime of sit-at-home imposed on the southeast by a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The late Odoh, who sources claim had recently returned from Dubai and had decided to establish his business at the Ogbete Main Market, was shot dead during the protest and his corpse deposited at a mortuary in Enugu on the orders of the State Government.

Although the family has fulfilled all the conditions put forward by the government and the state police command before claiming the body of their son, every effort to take the body for burial has been frustrated.

A family source, who wanted not to be named for fear of further attacks by the police and the government, said the late Odoh’s burial has been fixed twice, but because of the bottlenecks placed by the government, had to be postponed.

The source said this has increased the pain of the family, and wondered why the government has refused to release the corpse, even when all the conditions set by the authorities has been fulfilled.

“We are being treated very cruelly by the government. It is like killing our son and brother multiple times. Each time they frustrate our efforts to bury him and begin to heal, they kill him all over again and the pain deepens. We are crying that our son was cut down in his prime by forced that should guarantee his safety, but frustrating efforts to lay him to rest is amounting to multiple killing of the same person as far as we are concerned,” the source said over the weekend.

Asked what the relationship has been with the government and police authorities since the killing took place, the source said neither the Enugu State Government nor the police authorities has reached out to the family.

“The Enugu State Government, unfortunately, has not reached out to the family in any way. I am at home here in our village and I have not seen any person that said he represents the government or the police visiting to express any sympathy. As sad as this is, we are not even asking for their visit or compensation. There is no amount that can bring back our son’s life. All that we ask of them is that they allow us carry the dead body of our son so that we can bury him,” the source said.

He lamented that the burial, which, according to him, has been fixed to take place on August 19, 2023, might have to be postponed again, and for the third time following strange protocols being put on the way by the Department of Public Prosecution.

“We have completed all the processes required by the police including conducting autopsy on the body, yet, they refused to release the body saying that they got a call from the Department of Public Prosecution stating otherwise. The burial has been fixed on 19^th of August after the previous two dates fixed for his burial failed as a result of not releasing the body. We do not understand why this has to be so, for a young man so gruesomely murdered,” he cried.

News Express reports that the late Bonaventure Odoh was one of the two people allegedly shot dead when traders at the Ogbete market, the largest market in Enugu State staged a protest against an order of the government forcing them to open for business on Mondays as part of efforts to end the sit-at-home imposed by the Simon Ekpa faction of IPOB.

Although the shops have been unsealed, the State Government also issued statements suggesting that those whose shops had been sealed had to present evidence of tax payments before being allowed to reopen for business.