A 62-year-old lecturer of the University of Benin, Dr William Okotie, on Monday, lamented that life had been difficult for him and his family since his wife, Dr Stella Okotie, was killed at the university gate in July. Okotie told the Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing allegations of human rights abuses by the police that his wife’s death could have been averted if the police officers were not dragging the steering wheel with the minibus driver, who hit his wife.

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“We don’t know what happened between the driver and the policemen. We only saw the officers of the police dragging the steering wheel with the driver until the bus hit my wife where she was standing. My son and I were standing alongside my late wife when the sad incident occurred,” the lecturer said. Okotie, who is a lecturer in the Department of Institute of Public Administration, UNIBEN, said her wife had been buried but needed compensation from the government to be able to take care of the family and the settle the debt incurred during her burial. He said since his wife’s demise, he had been contending with cooking, dressing up the children for school and keeping the family together. He said, “Since it happened, it hasn’t been easy with us. It is not something one should experience; I have been doing the cooking and taking the children to school.” Okotie said that it was a pity that his wife, also a lecturer in the Department of Institute of Education, UNIBEN, died very close to her place of work. “My wife was a lecturer in the Institute of Education. She was fond of where she worked, and she died in front of her workplace. This was caused by the unprofessional conduct of the police,” he added.