It is Controversial As Youth Framed up My Brother, Because He Refused to give N1 million Bribe – Olisa Ayiawu
Written By Dedeigbo Ayodeji
Posted By Town Crier News Nigeria
Published By Fitness Network Communications
Contrary to reports that the owner of St. Gabriel Funeral Homes, located along Ekenwan Road axis of Benin City, Edo State, Gabriel Chukwu Otuu , who presented himself to the Police recently after two of his workers and a relative were arrested by men of the Edo State Police Command, was a ritualist.
Investigations conducted by Town Crier News Nigeria has so far revealed that the suspect is a skilled mortician, who operates a licensed mortuary at the said location.
The Edo State Police Command, through its deputy spokesperson, ASP Jennifer Iwegbu, had announced on Wednesday, 17 August, 2022, that policemen from the State Command, had raided the said ritualists den, located along Ekenwan Road axis of Benin City and they found 20 mummified dead bodies in it, but this accession has since been discovered to be false, as the said building is a morgure licensed by the Edo State Ministry of Environment.
The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, at the inception of the case, ordered an intensive invesitiation into the matter and he gave the Edo State Police Command and the State Ministry of Health a seven day period to unravel the mystery surrounding the 20 corpses found at the contentious morgue.
It was learned that the panel sat and it was discovered during its investigations, that all the mummified corpse found at the newly constructed morgue, located on Ekenwan Road Beinin city were not for rituals and they also had name tags on them at the time the police raided the facility.
The panel also discovered that the owner of the facility, Gabrile Otuu , built it for the sole purpose of using it to preserving dead bodies.
Town Crier News Nigeria ingestigation also revealed that Gabriel Otuu, got his skills as a mortician from Abriba in Abia State, where he learnt the craft of embalming dead bodies, before he worked briefly as a mortician in Agbani General Hospital Enugu State, and later proceeded to Benin City Edo State in the year 2012, where he also worked as an apprentice at their Mortuary of the Mary Magdalene Hospital, Edo State, where he gained more experience .
He was said to have gotten a job offer from Asuen Hospital located along First East Circle Road, Benin City, where he also worked and managed their mortuary for a long time, but he left when he fell sick, but soughted spiritual help from a traditionalist in his home town in Afikpo Ebonyi State.
On his return, Gabriel, was said to have gotten another Job at St. John Hospital, Benin City, where he was also saddled with their duty of managing the hospital mortuary and he would also remit monies to proprietors of the hospitals.
Gabrile was later said to have decided to set up his own mortuary after registering a company known as St. Gabriel Funeral Homes, Located at Ekewam area of Benin City, Edo State.
He was said to have bought a land from a man known as No-More-Less, at the rate of N7million and he gave a part payment of the sum of N4million to the land owner and he has a balance of N3million to be paid to the owner of the land, but it was learned that the Youth leader of the community where he was building his own mortuary, Identified simply as Fidelis approached him and demanded the sum of N1million as bribe and when Gabrile couldn’t pay the said sum, he was said to have lied to the police that new building within was a ritualist den.
Speaking to one of Gabriel’s brothers, Olisa Ayiawu, told Town Crier News Nigeria in an interview that; it is very “ sad that my brother and his funeral home was treated the manner at which they were treated and his name and that of his business was damaged by the Edo State Police Command, who was in a hurry to prove to the police authorities and the public that he was a ritualist and his mortuary was a den of ritualist.
My brother’s troubles started early this year when he started building his own mortuary at Ekenwan Road, Benin City and the Youth Leader of the community, Fidelis approached my brother and demanded the some of N1million from brother as settlement for the youths.
But the person who sold the land to my brother asked him not to pay any money to anyone because my brother bought the land for the sum of N7million and he paid an advance fee of N4million to the owner and had a debt of N3million to pay to the owner of the land when the Youth Leader came asking for youth settlement of N1million.
The owner of the land asked my brother to proceed with the construction of his mortuary and my brother also brought official of the Edo State Ministry of Environment to inspect the building while under construction so that he can get an approval or license to operate a mortuary at the site, but the officials from the ministry declined because the building was still under construction, the Youth Leader, Mr. Fidelis kept on disturbing for the N1million settlement for the construction of the facility.
My brother then went to the nearest police station and reported the harassment and intimidation by the Youth Leader to the Police, but the police didn’t take his case seriously.
Then when my brother finished the building, he brought in the officials of Edo State Ministry of Environment and they inspected the building again and at that time they approved it and gave him a license to operate his mortuary.
Then my brother went to the previous mortuary, at Asuen Hospital Located at First East Circle Road, Benin City, where he had worked and took the corpse he inherited from the hospital at the time he leased the facility down to his own Mortuary.
He also went to St. Johns Hospital on first Federal Road, Benin City, where he also worked and he took the corpse he had there and he brought them to his own Mortuary that has been approved and licensed by the Edo State Ministry of Environment on the Ekenwa Road, but Youth Leader, Fidelis went and lied to the police that my brother was using his newly built mortuary as a ritual den, because he refused to give him the sum of N1million he demanded as bribe before operating, then the police visited my brother’s mortuary, raided it and declared it a ritualist den in spite of the fact that the mummified corpse they found had tags on them and there were also receipts also showing the names and addresses of persons who deposited the corpses at my brother’s morgues but at Asuen Hospital and St. John’s Hospital, before they were moved to my brother’s own morgue, but the police went to the public to declare my brother a ritualist without conducting proper investigations.
The worst of it was that even after the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki ordered a comprehensive investigation into the matter the police authorities in an effort to cover up their errors, charged my brother to court and three of the boys working for him on trump up charges of murder, whereby the Committee setup by the Edo State Government only indicted my brother for not obtaining an approval or license to operate his newly built mortuary, which was not true, because at first my brother is a skilled mortician, which is a craft that does not need any certification.
There is no law which stating that a mortician should obtain certification before they can operate.
People die in their homes and local morticians are called in to embalm their bodies for them.
My brother learnt this skill in the eastern part of the Country, Abriba, in Abia State and he traveled down to Edo State in 2012 in search of greener pasture, then he got a job at Asuen Hospital and he became an apprentice at the hospital mortuary, but after working for a while, the person managing the mortuary resigned and the proprietors of the hospital offered my brother the hospital mortuary on lease and my brother was to pay them monthly , and he inherited all the corpse in the Asuen Hospital Mortuary.
My brother took the job and was doing very well but few years into the job, my brother fall sick and was very depressed and he was contemplating suicide due to his protracted sickness.
He was then advised to visit our home town to seek traditional means of treatment as his case was getting worst day by day.
My brother left for our home town where he got traditional treatments for his sickness and the traditionalist who treated him gave him traditional medicines for his illness and other means of traditional means of praying for himself so he would not be inflicted with such illness again.
But when my brother got back to his place of work, he discovered that Asuen Hospital no longer need his service due to his absence
My brother, became lucky due to his reputation and he got a new job at St. Johns Hospital, Benin city and he was also offered the job to manage their mortuary as mortician and he also inherited the corpses in the morgue and he was to pay them monthly as well, but after working for a while he decided to open his own mortuary and funeral homes, then he registered his company name as St. Gabriel Funeral Homes and he also went and bought a parcel of land to erect his mortuary at the Ekenwa area of Benin City Edo State from a man known as Nomoreless and the Youth Leader came demanding for bribe and when my brother couldn’t pay due to construction and other debts he was owing , the Youth leader went and lie to the police and the police hurriedly labeled my brother a ritualist and his mortuary facility was declared a ritualist dean.
” We are asking the police high command in Abuja to order a reinvestigation of this case and tell the truth and clean my brothers name. “ He Concluded
