Sealed NNPC corporate headquarters, on Moscow road, Port Harcourt by protesting members of Akwa-Ibom community in Port Harcourt on Friday, August 24.
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
The members of the family of Christopher Asher Dan, the 23-year-old Contract Staff who died inside the premises of Nigeria National Petroleum Company(NNPC) Moscow road, Port Harcourt on Tuesday,20th August,2024 have been allowed to see his corpse.
The family members, some members of the Akwa-Ibom community and two human rights lawyers accompanied the Police to a morgue located at Nkpogu in Port Harcourt where the late Dan was preserved, yesterday, Friday.
Mr. Saviour Dan, the younger brother of the deceased confirmed to PMNEWS about the latest development.
He also said that after they saw the corpse, they were informed by the Police that since the circumstances surrounding the death of his elder brother are in contention, an autopsy is required to be carried out as part of their investigation.
It would be recalled that scores of members of the Akwa-Ibom community in Rivers State yesterday, Friday 23rd August 2024, defied the heavy rain to protest the death of a kinsman, Christopher Dan, and the refusal of Police to allow members of the family to see his corpse.
Christopher Asher Dan, a Contract staff and Cleaner died inside the premises of Nigeria National Petroleum Company(NNPC) Moscow Road, Port Harcourt on Tuesday,20th August 2024 in a controversial circumstance.
Sealed NNPC corporate headquarters, on Moscow road, Port Harcourt by protesting members of Akwa-Ibom community in Port Harcourt on Friday, August 24.
Protesting members of the Akwa-Ibom community over the death of their kinsman, Christopher Asher Dan inside NNPC headquarters, Port Harcourt.
Asher Christopher Dan, who died inside the premises of Nigeria National Petroleum Company(NNPC) Moscow Road, Port Harcourt Rivers
The Protesters with different inscriptions like ‘We want explanation on Asher’s death’, and ‘Who killed Asher’, first marched to the gate of Rivers State Police Command headquarters at Moscow, where the family and representatives of the group were invited for a meeting with top senior Police officers.
After the protesters met with some top-ranking Police officers, the protesters were told that the matter had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department(SCIID).
The protesters later marched to the NNPC headquarters also in Moscow (a stone’s throw from the Police headquarters) where they sealed the gate with a native palm front and the picture of the deceased placed on it before leaving for State CIiD.
Our correspondent who monitored the protest disclosed that no official of the company came out to address the protesters.
In an interview with Journalists, King Albert, the Event Coordinator of the Akwa-Ibom community in Rivers state said “Regarding the subject matter, our boy Asher Dan Christopher came to work on the 20th of this month(August) only for us to get information that an incident that occurred as at 10 am, we got information by 4 pm that the young man fell from this upstairs, this storey building and died.
“But the same people are telling us that they were not there present when the incident happened, we saw the clothes of this young man on the fourth 4th floor while they are telling us that he fell from the 8th floor.
“So we are calling on the Commissioner of Police, the Rivers State Government, all respected individuals of this state to come into this matter because it is a matter of Akwa-Ibom state and Rivers state.
“We need justice, we need an autopsy, we need to see the corpse of this young man because they are telling us they will not allow us access to the corpse of this young man for fourteen days so that they we have access to do what they want to do. We need justice for Asher Christopher Dan”, Albert said
On Thursday 22nd August 2024, Christopher Dan, the father of the deceased told Journalists in an interview that he was yet to see the corpse of his son.
The Spokesperson for the Rivers State, Superintendent of Police(SP) Grace Iringe-Koko had earlier confirmed the incident while adding that the investigation is ongoing.
NNPC management in Port Harcourt is yet to speak on the tragic incident at the time of filing this report.