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Late Mechanic: Police Shield Autopsy Report
After 11 days of anxiety and suspense over the result of the autopsy conducted on late Ikoku mechanic, Chima Ikwunado, the report may have been submitted to the Rivers State Police Command.
The Pathologist, Dr. Cornell Chukwuegbo, engaged by late Chima Ikwunado’s family, gave the indication during a telephone chat with The Tide, yesterday, but said the autopsy report is not for public consumption.
Chukwuegbo, however, said the report as, at press time, has been submitted by the police command’s pathologist, and urged our reporter to apply through the right channels to get a copy of the report.
It would be recalled that the Pathologist engaged by the Rivers State Police Command, Dr. Musa Stevens, after conclusion of a five hour autopsy at the mortuary of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), penultimate Monday, said the report would be ‘handed in’ after 10 days, saying there were no incisions or cuts in the late mechanic’s body to show that a previous autopsy was done.
Stevens had also said that global best practices would be followed, assuring that the autopsy would reflect the true cause of Chima Ikwunado’s death.
But speaking on the autopsy result in the telephone chat with our reporter, yesterday, Chukwuegbo said the autopsy report could not be made public except through the appropriate channels.
He asked, “When did they start making autopsy report public? Go to the police and get it. Ask your lawyer to apply to the police to get the report. Autopsy reports are not for public consumption. It has to pass through the normal process. Nobody is restricting you from seeing it but you have to go through the normal channel.”
When asked what the right channels were, the pathologist said, “The normal process is that a lawyer will apply to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Ministry of Justice, the public prosecution people, and they will give you a copy of the report. That is the proper thing. It is not something for the public.
“Autopsy report is the communication between the pathologist and the corpse. So, if the pathologist wants to go to jail, he should tell the public what the report is without the court which ordered it knowing about it.
“The most important thing is that; let them get it. It is about now being submitted. The attending pathologist is the one whose duty it is to submit it, and by now, he should be with the police submitting it as we speak.”
Chukwuegbo, said he has been part of the autopsy ordered, noting that the report that would be presented would be a unanimous view of both experts – pathologists.
“It is one. I have signed. If we write two; that is a mad house. It is not done anywhere. It is a report, it is scientific. Any other pathologist will see the same thing and write the same thing.
“Moreover, the police have given the Coroner form. My duty is just to make sure that what we have seen is what is documented, and we sign, and it goes. It is not a big deal,” the pathologist stated.
Meanwhile, the family of the late Chima Ikwunado and the Ikoku Spare Parts Dealers have sued the police to court over the mechanic’s death in custody, and alleged torture of the Ikoku Four by the Police E-Crack Team, also known as the Commissioner’s Squad.
The Tide reports that the case is before Justice J.K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
When contacted, yesterday for confirmation of receipt of the autopsy report, spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, said he travelled out of Port Harcourt.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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