Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Owerri North, Mr Tawon and others have been accused of gruesome murder of Peter Ogbonna, who was allegedly the bread winner of his family. The family alleged that the DPO led six other policemen, Inspector Dawodu Korie and Supol Henry with the assistance of Mr. Philip Akuta and Damian Akuta amongst others at large, to break into the deceased house and abducted him around 1.00am on Friday, April 11, 2014 and dragged him to the house of one Mr. Philip Akuta, where they gave him the beating of his life that led to his death.
 
The matter allegedly started when the deceased refused to sell some of his landed properties to Mr. Philip Akuta, who had approached him to sell the land to him at all cost. Mr. Akuta  was described as someone who has so much money and could always get what he wanted not minding the means.

He conspired with the deceased half brother, Anthony Nwankem Oriaku, sponsored him to commence a suit at Customary Court, Umuoba Uratta against the deceased in respect of his father’s landed properties.

The petition, dated April 16, 2014, continued that Mr. Akuta voluntarily brought in the DPO, Mr. Tawon, to live in his house as a tenant and on the basis of which he illegally assigned two police officers from his division as personal guards to the said Akuta, an act, it said made him to intimidate people into submission in the village with the full protection of the DPO.

It added that shortly before the matter came up in court on February 27, 2014, the DPO and some of his officers personally went and arrested the deceased and gave him the beating of his life claiming that he threatened the life of his half brother, Mr. Anthony.

It added that thereafter, they dragged the deceased to the house of Mr. Philip Akuta where they finished up the beating, notwithstanding the deceased’s pleas for mercy.

The deceased, who was bleeding from both nose and ears was moved from Akuta’s house to the Owerri North divisional police station and was later released at the point of death with a police pro-former to immediately move his body to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.

The FMC, it was learnt, referred him to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu where the 58 year-old man died two days later on April 14, 2014 as a result of the acts of the suspects.