A businesswoman, Victoria Mba, whose 22-year-old son, Moses Mba, was allegedly shot by police officers at the former residence of the Cross River State Governor, told The Punch about her struggle for justice, the attempt to brand her son as mentally ill, and her demand for an autopsy.
She explained that she was from Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State and that the deceased, her first son, would have turned 23 in November. She recalled that on August 1, after returning from a burial, the family received a call to rush to the Navy Clinic in Calabar, where they later discovered Moses had been taken.
According to her, Moses had gone to preach at the former governor’s residence but was denied entry by policemen. When he returned a second time, he was treated as a threat, beaten, and shot. She alleged that he was left in a pool of blood for hours until Red Cross officials moved him to the Navy Hospital, where he was placed under tight police watch.
Mba claimed that the hospital delayed surgery, demanded over ₦400,000, and eventually operated on him on August 4. The six-hour surgery kept him alive, but complications soon set in. She said doctors requested five pints of rare blood, each costing ₦100,000, and every transfusion caused him severe pain due to internal injuries.
She added that on August 9, while she and her husband briefly went home, her sister called to say Moses had died after screaming in pain and saying he was tired. They rushed back only to confirm his death.
When asked whether any government official was present, she explained that they had called Emmanuel Dickson, who introduced himself as either a chief of staff or special adviser to the governor.
She said that when they informed him about the situation, they discovered that some security officers had disguised themselves as patients and that all of them began leaving once it was confirmed that Moses had died. She added that Red Cross officials arrived at around 11 pm that night.
Eventually, on Sunday, August 10, at about 4 pm, the family deposited Moses’ body in the morgue after paying ₦54,000. According to her, Dickson had promised to assist but only provided part of the money, leaving them to complete the payment on their own.
When asked what happened afterwards, she recounted that on the following day, Monday, August 11, government officials, including Dickson and some policemen, went first to the Commissioner of Police and then to the morgue without the family’s consent in order to view her son’s body.
She explained that the morgue staff called the family to inform them that security personnel insisted on seeing the corpse, even though it was against procedure. Since it was not the family making the request, she said, they refused to give the go-ahead for the body to be viewed.
Further talking, she said, “This was because they had already started claiming that my son was mentally unstable. So, I knew something was wrong. We told them no.
“After killing my son, Emmanuel Dickson called my husband and I on the phone and said we should start coming to State CID Calabar, and that the Commissioner of Police wanted to see us.
“I said, ‘No, no, no. You killed my son; you did not sympathise with me.
“You are now ordering me to come and see the Commissioner of Police?’
“We told them were not coming, and suggested that if they wanted to see us, they should come and meet us in our lawyer’s chamber.
