Rivers: Family of drowned teenager alleges foul play, seeks justice

strong>By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Members of family of a 15-year-old boy, Ekene Dike, whose was found dead inside Mgbudaiya river in Obio-Akpor local government of Rivers last Thursday have urged the state Commissioner of Police to order probe of the death of the teenager.

Three suspects who allegedly took the deceased to the Mgbudaiya river area where his corpse was later found floating has been arrested by the police.

The father of the deceased, Bartholemew Dike, dismissed claims credited to the Police that the family was not interested in investigation of the circumstances that led to the drowning of the teenager.

Dike told journalists that three suspects he simply identified as Udoh, Elihah and Chima, took his son to the Mgbudaiya River where his dead body was later found on 10th August.

He claimed that one of the three, Udoh, had allegedly threatened to kill his son because he reported him to the landlord for smoking marijuana in their compound in Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt.

Mr Dike also revealed that he had to bury his son at the Mgbudaiya community because the natives had refused to allow him to remove the corpse from the riverside.

He said the natives had insisted that their customs demand that the corpse must be buried at the bank of the rivers since it was seen inside the river.

However, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command has not reacted to the development as at the time of writing this story.

However, checks by our reporter indicated that the three suspects arrested over the death of the teenager were detained over alleged involvement in Sudden and Unnatural Death, (SUD).

It would recalled that earlier reports had indicated that the family of the deceased hurriedly buried his corpse and did not want matter investigated by the Police.