#JusticeForFidelis: Nigerians demand justice over alleged murder of 33-year-old man in Edo

The report of the mysterious death of a 33-year-old manager at Angle 90 branch of Valchi Fast Food and Bar, Auchi, Edo State, Fidelis Osaghae, has sparked some reactions among Nigerians on social media with hashtag #JusticeForFidelis trending on X for hours on Thursday.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier on Wednesday reported the death of Mr Osaghae in a strange circumstance and how his employer, Valentine Oyemike, a politician and candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 House of Assembly election in Edo State, took his corpse to hospital.

The widow of the deceased, a young mother of a two-month-old baby, accused Mr Oyemike of not coming clean on the matter, saying the death of her husband happened within three hours after he dashed back to work around 2:30 a.m. on Monday, 29 July.

Nigerians on the microblogging social media X have called for the prosecution of Mr Oyemike, even as a non-governmental organisation championing the call for justice, Akin Fadeyi Foundation, has insisted that the Edo State Police Command cannot be trusted to do justice in the matter.

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES is aware that following the public attention the matter has drawn, the police in Edo, after transferring the matter to the Criminal Investigations Department, planned to conduct an autopsy without proper family involvement on Thursday hurriedly.

The father of the deceased, identified simply as Mr Osaghae (senior), told AFF on Thursday morning that he received a call from someone who identified himself as a police officer in Edo State who called him to quickly come for the autopsy and that they were already close to the hospital where it would be conducted.

Though the police spokesperson in Edo State, Joel Moses, denied the impromptu arrangement, saying the father was informed a day before, a call recording of conversations between the unnamed police officer and the father of the deceased confirmed the family was not duly informed.

Reactions trail development

In their reaction to the matter on X, a user identified as Lola Okurin said: “This story is very heartbreaking. I shed tears when I saw the videos and pictures just now. Please use your platform to beg for justice.”

Also, X user, identified as Yeye said: “The police’s inaction is unacceptable. We demand answers and #JusticeForFidelis.”

Another user, Qudus, also posted: “There is something fishy about the mysterious demise of Fidelis, who died at his workplace and that he was assaulted looking at the patch on his chest. We want nothing but justice.”

On his part, the username Onyedicachi said: “Back in the days at AuchiPoly, we were neighbours. He was such a free-spirited fellow. I even attended his wedding last August. Reading this now is truly heartbreaking.”

Autopsy

According to the Executive Director of AFF, Akin Fadeyi, who shared with PREMIUM TIMES the call recording of the conversation between a man said to be a police officer from the Edo State Command and the father of the deceased, the whole arrangement for the autopsy was shoddy and unacceptable.

In the recording, the father said he lived in Kogi State and that he could not just be summoned to Edo on the morning of the scheduled autopsy as if he was part of the plan. But the man on the other end of the call said he thought the police commissioner in the state had already told the father a day before that the autopsy would be conducted.

The father said: “Nobody told me anything about the autopsy. The police commissioner only said an investigation woul be conducted, and I don’t think autopsy is the only thing about investigation.”

The father eventually said if conducted, he would deny the report, even as he directed the police to the family’s lawyer on the matter.

Reacting to the development, Mr Fadeyi said it would not be proper for the police to conduct any autopsy without the family’s involvement, saying doing so would simply confirm the family’s fear that the police in Edo State could not be trusted with the matter.

When asked about the matter, the PPRO, Mr Moses, said: “Nobody is rushing anybody Madam. The officer who made the call is the one investigating the matter. On the issue of autopsy, nobody insisted he should come “right now” as you put it. Again, autopsy is apparently the only way to unravel the controversy.

“Kindly share your suggestion on how to go about unraveling the matter, please.”

However, Mr Fadeyi said beyond the autopsy, there should be questions around why the deceased had to go back to work that late and if that was the practice before the incident.

He said: “Couldn’t whatever he was called back to do wait till morning? ⁠Why are there bruises on Fidelis’ body? ⁠Could we get the CCTV recording of the place showing that he got back to work that night and what transpired thereafter? ⁠Can we have footages of all that transpired between 02.30hrs to 0600 hrs on that fateful day?”

AFF’s petition

Meanwhile, in its petition addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, AFF requested that the matter be transferred to the police force headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital territory.

A copy of the acknowledged petition, which Mr Fadeyi signed, noted that the police in Edo were too “quick to jump to conclusions by exonerating Mr Oyemike from being a part of the death of Mr Osaghae.”

As of the time of filing this report, it was unclear if the IGP had taken any step.