The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Mustapha Dandaura, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the incident occurred in FRSC office in Onitsha on Thursday.
“There was a problem between the Unit Commander and a staff.
“Then, another officer entered into the unit commander’s office. In the process of defending the unit commander, the officer hit the deceased on the neck and he collapsed.
“They had thought that the deceased merely slumped until they discovered that he actually died, and so, did not report the matter last night until this morning,” he said.
Dandaura said that he had ordered that the matter should be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) “since it is a murder case’’.
NAN learnt that the deceased, Emeka Ojei, a Senior Road Marshal Assistant, was attacked by his boss, the Unit Commander in Onitsha and another officer because he was attempting to expose corrupt practices by the officers.
An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that the incident occurred at about 7 p.m. at the Onitsha Unit office of FRSC, near the bridgehead.
The eyewitness said that the deceased had an indicting report about one of the officers, which he threatened to reveal to the authorities, but that the suspects appealed to him to drop it and he refused.
“Ojei was working on a report on a corruption case.
“He had in his phone, the corruption report indicting one of his assailants, which he intended to submit at the Corps Headquarters in Benin.
“However, he was called back by his boss, who insisted that he shouldn’t go, but he refused.
“He was then dragged with his phone by his boss while another officer joined them.
“The struggle was still going on when at a point, he was held around the neck until he collapsed and later died,” the source said.
When contacted on telephone, Sector Commander of FRSC in the state, Mr Ayodele Kumapayi, said that he did not have details of the incident yet.
“I am not in town now because I am on my annual leave, but I promise to get back to you with details of the incident,” Kumapayi told NAN