Chibuike "Sleek" Ikeaguchi
2020 
Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Nigeria failed Chibuike Daniel Ikeaguchi. At 20, Sleek — as he was known to family, friends and fans of his music — was yet to begin university. Using gifted hands, he installed and fixed windows – Amaco, you name it. From this trade, he was able to raise money to augment his family’s income and further his education (he was set to begin post-UTME processes), all while building a followership for his music.
We’ll never know if Sleek would have made it mainstream, or just how far the glass trade would have taken him. On September 19th, 2020, barely out of his teens, Sleek — Chibuike — was shot, then left to die by members of the Nigerian Police Force.
Chibuike was conceived in northern Nigeria, whose religious riots in the early 2000s, pushed his parents back to the southern state of Port Harcourt. It is in this state Sleek grew up, forging the friendships and alliances that would define his too-short life.
On September 19th, Sleek, together with a friend Reuben, paid a visit to a third friend who had recently moved away from their neighbourhood. They wanted to familiarise themselves with his place and shoot the crap as close friends are wont to do. The end of this visit marked the start of the horror that would eventually lead to the loss of Sleek’s life.
Sleek and Reuben were standing outside, waiting on their Uber, when they spotted an ominous van lurking. These vans, as most young Nigerians know, spell terror: policemen, plain-clothed or otherwise are usually waiting within, ready to rob and maim and kill. So they did what many would, they took to their heels.
As eyewitness accounts recall, the ‘law enforcement’ officers began shouting ‘thief’ without any corroborating evidence, or real reason to suspect, while the boys attempted to escape to safety. But for the clothes he had on, Sleek had nothing on his person. Reuben was sporting a bag which he emptied out on the street — he wanted passers-by to know he had nothing stolen or dangerous on his person. They continued the race for their lives until they landed at De-Topic Supermarket in Elewolo, Obi-Akpor LGA.
At De-Topic, a police officer stationed at the supermarket, Sgt Isaiah Ben, threw rationality and human compassion to the wind. He shot the clearly unarmed Sleek, leaving an opening for the policemen to round him, and his friend Reuben up. This is not where the story ends.
Sleek’s sister – Rita, 18, narrated to us, with the anger of 4 people, 4 times her age how her brother and Reuben were carted off in a keke (tricycle). Shot and bleeding out, Sleek’s head (he was considerably tall), was left bobbing out of the motorcycle, his legs too. Reuben, who was handcuffed, cried and pleaded that his friend be properly stationed, he repeatedly drew their attention to the hospitals they drove past. He was shut up and at a point threatened with: ‘abi you wan join am?’. Sleek was killed 2 days after Rita’s birthday.
Sleek’s family began putting in calls the moment they heard their son had been shot. The policemen refused to budge when calls came in to Sleek’s phone from his mother. The policemen drove around Port Harcourt, Sleek bleeding to death as the ride stretched.
When the Ikeaguchi family first pressed for the body of their son, the DPO denied having anyone shot or killed at the station. However, Reuben, whose family had been alerted that he was at the police station, convinced them that this wasn’t the case. Pressure had to be applied before the location of the body was divulged. The police told Sleek’s other sister to check the mortuary, that’s where they ‘dumped’ him.
According to Rita, Sleek was placed at the back of the mortuary. She believes the policemen intended to dump his body as is a routine practice of errant policemen. He was given a completely different identity, they claimed he was 30 years old with the name ‘Daniel Anambra.’
At the time of writing this, the sergeant and four other policemen have been placed in the state CID for further investigation. The Commissioner of Police is yet to personally offer his condolences to the Ikeaguchi family, neither has he sent a delegate to do the needful. Ditto the governor of the state Nyesom Wike. Nigeria failed Chibuike Daniel Ikeaguchi.
Killer police officer: Sergeant Isaiah Ben