The family of Friday Arunsi, a young man killed by a drunk police officer in 2020, are currently at loggerheads over who should receive the compensation that will be awarded to the family by the Abia state Judicial Panel of Inquiry on SARS activities in the state.
Friday Arunsi was killed at Ebem community in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State on April 17, 2020. An officer attached to the Ebem Police Station was said to be under the influence of alcohol when he pulled the trigger and killed Friday.
At the resumed hearing of his case at the Abia state judicial panel, the father of the deceased, Ifeanyi Arunsi, and the deceased’s maternal family, Umu Nneibo, disagreed openly over who would receive the expected compensation for the deceased.
Mr. Arunsi claimed that the representative of the maternal family, Mr. Kings Hart Ukpai, never contributed anything to the training of the deceased from birth and has no right to want to claim the compensation.
“My son was 19 years old when he was killed by the police. Mr. Kings Hart Ukpai contributed nothing even from birth. I have been the one training him from primary school until he sat for his WAEC.
January 2017 was the first time Mr Kings Hart Ukpai knew my son. My son was buried in Ebem Ohafia, on a piece of land I borrowed N5M to buy.
The Umu Nneibo maternal family did not play any role in his training and burial. They were cautioned by the council of chiefs and elders whom I reported the matter to when they pushed me to the wall.
At the burial, over N1 million was realized. Mr. Kings Hart Ukpai took everything. They didn’t give me anything.”Mr Arunsi said
Chairman of the panel, Justice Sunday Imo (rtd) urged the two parties to stop quarreling and concentrate on the extrajudicial killing of their son. He further warned that the families cannot be certain that compensation would be recommended for the deceased.
