Ahamefula Ogbu
2 July 2008
Port Harcourt — The death of former South-south Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Aminasoari Dikibo, reechoed at the Justice Kayode Eso-led Truth and Reconciliation Commission yesterday where the family pointed accusing fingers at the PDP for masterminding his death.
Dikibo was murdered on Friday, February 6, 2004. On Saturday the following morning, the nation was told of his death which the police eventually described as an armed robbery attack.
But his family has since come to the conclusion that the death of their patriarch was politically motivated.
The family also carpeted former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, for 'messing up' the investigation.
Presenting a memorandum on behalf of the family, Mr. Sobereko Dikibo, former Commissioner for Special Duties in the Dr. Peter Odili regime, lamented that since the position of the police on the matter, no material evidence had been placed before the panel of inquiry that investigated the matter to prove that the killers were armed robbers.
The position of the family, their spokesman said, was supported by the testimony of the late politician's orderly that it was possible a co-passenger in the same vehicle he was riding in shot and killed the politician.
However, the late Dikibo's Personal Assistant, Chief Nduka Wobo, had told the same panel that Dikibo was killed by PDP members. He did not name the partymen.
Sobereko noted that notwithstanding the allegation that the PDP had a hand in the killing of the politician, they see no reason to make any presentation on the issue since the police autopsy report contradicted eyewitness accounts on where the late politician was hit by the bullet.
He further wondered why the corpse was embalmed before the police could conduct an autopsy on the dead body.
The 12 hour-delay, the family reasoned was also suspect, just as the manner of the investigation panel's sitting was untidy. The family went further to question why the report had not been released, nearly four years after.
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