The family of one Asher Christopher, a worker with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), is demanding thorough investigation into “mysterious circumstances” surrounding his death.
According to the father of the deceased, Dan Christopher, his 23-year-old son died I nside the Nigerian National Petroleum Company office building located along Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, August 20.
Mr Christopher said he had not seen the corpse of his son, who he said was a cleaner and casual worker with the company.
He said his younger son called him on Tuesday that a colleague of Asher said he should come to the police station at Old GRA.
He said: “I asked what happened. My son said he didn’t know. When I got there, I asked Asher where they had searched, but they did not see my son’s name on the list at the police station.
“I had to ask my son, who called me to his brother’s (Asher’s) colleague again. He now called the person to find out if it was the Old GRA Police Station, and he said we should come or go elsewhere.
“The person said I should come to the surveillance office upstairs at the Old GRA Police Station. I waited till 7 pm, and one of the policewomen told me to come back on Wednesday.
“On Wednesday, the police told me my son was dead. So, they took my wife and me along with other people to the company (NNPC) on Moscow Road where he was working as a cleaner. So, I asked where my son fell from.
They said nobody really knew if he fell from the second, third, fourth, seventh or last floor.
“I asked them what the boy looked like. They said he wasn’t wearing a shirt. So, I asked them to show me the place. They showed me the place, and I took pictures. I looked at the place, and there was no sign that somebody had fallen from there.
He added, “I asked for his clothes, and they said nobody had seen them. When I got to the first floor, I saw the boy’s slippers together with the clothes. My son was a cleaner in this company. I snapped it and told them I wanted to see the boy’s corpse to confirm if it was my son or not.
“The police took us back to the mortuary, but did not allow me to see my son in the mortuary.
“I want justice. I want to see my son’s corpse. How can somebody die and over 24 hours the parents have not seen him? How can they take my son to the mortuary without consulting his family?”
Spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident, saying the investigation into the matter had commenced.
