‘We don’t have money to bury Insp  Monday Orukpe,pay his mortuary bills’

– condemn alleged release of ten soldiers who beat Inspector Orukpe to death.

The family members of late Inspector Monday Orukpe who was beaten to death while he was on official duty at the Trade Fair area in Lagos state have expressed sadness over the shifting of the burial expenses for the late Orukpe to them to bear.

This, according to the family members is rubbing salt to thier pain.

Mr Alama Orukpe an elder brother of the deceased Inspector while speaking on the burial plans for the late Orukpe whose autopsy has been released , said the police and the army authorities have not contacted the family members since the killing of the Inspector.

He said ” All the while, we were waiting for the autopsy to be out and now that it is out, the next thing is for us to bury him. We went to see the Area commander under which is Division falls and we were told that we should look for money to bury our Inspector brother Monday Orukpe whom the soldiers beat up mercilessly to death. We said why should this be our responsibility but we were informed that is the procedure. That we should first burial him with our money and then later prepare his documents so that we can claim his N500,000 benefits. We told the police that we do not have money and the mortuary bills running into more than N200,000 has been shifted to us to pay. We are told to pay for the autopsy bill and cater for the burial. This is very sad. Our brother was killed in active service by our own soldiers. Since his murder, the commissioner of police in Lagos state has not invited us to his office to see him nor has the military authority contacted us. This is very disappointing and has brought more grief to the family. We were told by the police that they do not have anything to do with his burial . This is really sad”.

Speaking on the arrest of the soldiers allegedly responsible for killing Inspector Orukpe, Mr. Alama Orukpe said

” We learnt that eleven soldiers were identified by the surviving policeman for assaulting him and killing Inspector Monday. The eleven soldiers were paraded twice in different clothes and the surviving policeman still identified them as the ones who attacked them. However to our surprise, we learnt that ten soldiers have been left off the hook while just one soldier is being made to take the fall for others. This is not acceptable to us. We demand that all the eleven soldiers identified should be made to face the wrath of the law”.