EHIME ALEX, Lagos
The family of one Margaret Adiya Ikumu, from Oju community in Oju local government area of Benue state, has petitioned the Lagos State Police Command to uncover the circumstances surrounding the alleged death of their sister.
This was contained in a formal written request addressed to the Commissioner of Police dated May 15, 2020 with the subject-matter, “PETITION AGAINST ONE MISS MARVELOUS MARY AND OTHERS OVER THE DEATH OF OUR SISTER, MISS MARGARET ADIYA IKUMU” and undersigned by Mr Tony Iji.
In the petition, Margaret, who bears the name Margaret David on Facebook, was reported to had died few days ago under the custody of Miss Marvellous Mary and Nneka Buddy (Facebook names).
As a result, the family is appealing to the police authority under the leadership of the CP to wade in and investigate the incident with a view to establishing the facts and circumstances surrounding their sister’s death and eventual burial without the knowledge and consent of her family.
The petition reads in parts:
We hereby write to complain to you over the conduct of One Miss Marvelous Mary and Nneka Buddy (Facebook names) and other accomplices in the circumstance surrounding the alleged death of our sister, Margaret Adiya Ikumu, bearing Margaret David on Facebook, who was reported to have died few days ago under the custody of Marvelous and Nneka.
Our attention was drawn to the death of Margaret on Facebook few days ago somewhere at Aja area of Lagos where she was living with Miss Marvelous Mary and Nneka Buddy who are said to be her friends. Upon enquiries, our people were able to establish contact with Marvelous Mary on phone number 07040869026 and Nneka Buddy on her Facebook page, who reluctantly revealed to us that Miss Margaret was their friend but now dead and that her dead body is in their custody. They told us that they had the instruction of the late Margaret not to allow members of her family to know anything about her death and that they were authorized by the deceased to bury her according to her wish.
Since then, all effort by our family and our community here in Lagos to know the cause and circumstances surrounding Margaret’s death has been rebuffed by Marvelous and Nneka who are the only persons with information about her death. They later sent a chat message on WhatsApp to one member of our family with a picture of a casket showing that the late Margaret has been buried.
All effort by members of the family to get more details surrounding the death and eventual burial of Margaret from Marvelous and Nneka Buddy has proved abortive due to their refusal to co-operate with us. Miss Marvelous Mary has threatened to discard her phone number (07040869026) after the burial as a way of blocking us from further reaching her and all efforts at reaching late Margaret’s personal phone number, 0811377322 has not yielded any result as the phone is permanently switched off.
The other person with little information about late Margaret is one Sylvester with phone number 08142586049, who claimed to be her boyfriend. He said that he learnt about the death of Margaret through Marvelous and Nneka but does not know where they live, though he is aware that late Margaret was living with them.
To this end, the family is in a state dilemma on how to get to the root of the story surrounding her demise. This has cost the family of late Margaret a lot of trauma, especially her mother who is insisting on seeing the body of her daughter if she is truly dead.
We therefore appeal to the police authority under your leadership to wade in by investigating the incident with the view to establishing the facts and circumstances surrounding her death and eventual burial without the knowledge and consent of her family.
Note that the late Margaret is from Oju community, in Oju local government of Benue state while her supposed friends (Marvelous and Nneka) are of Igbo extraction from the Southeast unknown to our family and community.
We can be reached for further enquiries through Mr. Alex Ejeh on 08060547415 or the undersigned.
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