Deborah Akinyosoye
The Police in Cross River state says an autopsy will be conducted on the remains of the late Moses Mba, a 22-year-old man recently shot by a policeman attached to the residence of Gov. Bassey Otu.
The Commissioner of Police, Rashid Afegbua, disclosed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Saturday.
Afegbua said that the autopsy was to ascertain the cause of the death, saying, “yes, shooting may be involved, but we need to know what caused the death”
“We have concluded plans to carry out an autopsy, we need to ascertain if he really died of gunshot injury. The outcome will be made public,” he stated.
It would be recalled that Mba was reportedly shot in the leg on Aug. 1, by a policeman attached to Otu’s residence.
Speaking to newsmen, the deceased’s mother, Mrs Victoria Mba said that her son was short when he visited the governor’s residence and insisted on seeing him.
She said that her son died on Aug. 9 at the Naval Reference Hospital, Calabar, following the injuries he sustained from the gunshot.
“He was beaten, shot, and left on his own right in front of the governor’s residence. It was an official of the Red Cross Society who rushed him to the hospital.
“Before his death, he told me and my husband that he only requested to see the governor and that he had a message for him from God.
“We are calling for justice to be done, nobody has the right to take the life of another person, so justice should be done on this matter,” she said.
In his reaction, The Commissioner for information, Mr Erasmus Ekpang, said that the late Mba not mentally balanced.
“Let it be also known that the place the boy visited is not the governor’s current residence,” he said.