Mene Ogidi was sitting in his family’s backyard in Effurun, Delta State, on the afternoon of Sunday, April 27, when a friend called and asked him to help collect a package at the Effurun Main Park on Sapele Road.
He then asked his elder sister, Vine, for the fastest route to the park and left home.
Within the hour, he had been shot twice by a policeman at the park and twice more at a police station, where he died.
He was 28 years old.
Mene was also the second son his mother lost to police bullets.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the officer identified as his killer, Assistant Superintendent of Police Nuhu Usman, was a former operative of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Our correspondents gathered that Usman had been transferred across at least five postings for conduct his commanding officers repeatedly found unmanageable.
He, however, remained in uniform, armed and operational, until the day he walked into a scene he had no assignment to attend and opened fire on a restrained civilian.
What happened at the park
The sequence of events on that Sunday afternoon has been reconstructed by Sunday PUNCH through interviews with the victim’s family members and human rights workers with direct knowledge of the case.
When Mene arrived at the Effurun Main Park, the person holding the package asked him for money before releasing it.
Mene said the friend who sent him had provided none.
A dispute followed, during which the package was opened.
Those present claimed they found a pistol and ammunition inside.
Bystanders at the park subsequently restrained Mene and tied his hands behind his back.
They then contacted the police.
The Area Commander of the Uvwie Area Command, ACP Aliu Saba, was reached by phone and he dispatched a patrol team to the scene.
It was at this point that ASP Usman, who was not on duty and had not been assigned to the patrol, picked up his weapon and joined the responding officers.
The founder of Safecity Foundation, Harrison Gwamnishu, claimed to have investigated the incident when interviewed by News Central.
“On getting to the park, he (Usman) opened fire and shot the boy. They took him to the area command, where he shot him three more times. That was how he killed Ogene Mene,” he stated.
A viral video corroborates the core of this account.
It showed Usman discharging his weapon at close range toward Mene, whose hands were visibly bound behind him.
Mene was then transported by bus to Ekpan Police Station. He died there following the additional shots.
The family’s account
Vine Ogidi, the deceased’s elder sister, told Sunday PUNCH that she was with her brother and their mother in the backyard when the call came.
“On Sunday afternoon, he was sitting in our backyard with my mum and me when a friend called him to help collect a package at Effurun Main Park on Sapele Road,” she said.
“His phone was already faulty, so he asked my mum to give him her phone so that he would be able to call the person at the park. I even quarrelled with him, asking why he would collect my mum’s phone, but he begged. He asked for the fastest route to the park, and I directed him.”
Vine said she did not know the identity of the friend who called her brother that afternoon.
The only device that could help trace the call was with the police.
She also raised questions about the physical evidence at the centre of the incident.
“Until now, we have never seen any gun or parcel,” she said.
“If there was truly a parcel or a gun, it should have been presented. If the parcel belonged to my brother, his phone number would be on it, not another person’s. Who sent the package? Who was the driver that received it?”
These questions remain unanswered.
Our correspondents could not independently confirm whether a weapon was recovered at the scene, and the police have not publicly presented any physical evidence from the incident.
The attempt to cover-up
When Mene did not return home on Sunday evening, his family went to Ekpan Police Station the following day to report him missing. They brought a photograph.
The officers on duty told them they had not seen him.
The family returned a second time and received the same response.
“We went there twice,” Vine said. “We then posted his picture online, and that was when the video of his killing surfaced.”
Gwamnishu, who received the footage from a witness unwilling to come forward publicly, made the decision to post it on social media.
He said the silence following the shooting had been deliberate.
“After that, everywhere was silent. They were trying to hide everything until someone who recorded the incident sent it to me, and I posted it online.
“If this boy was the owner of the gun, he would have had accomplices and led the police to arrest others. Why would the police kill this young man? Possibly, they are trying to cover up something.”
Usman: Profile of a killer cop
ASP Nuhu Usman, also known as Ogbegbe, has a documented history of complaints and internal transfers within the Delta State Police Command that, sources say, should have disqualified him from operational duties long before the events of April 27.
Usman served in the Special Anti-Robbery Squad before its disbandment in 2020.
When #EndSARS protests forced the Federal Government to announce the unit’s dissolution, officers like Usman were reassigned rather than subjected to vetting or accountability proceedings.
A Delta-based human rights activist who monitors police conduct in the state, speaking with Sunday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, traced what he described as a pattern of violent and reckless behaviour across Usman’s postings.
He said, “After the #EndSARS protest, the police authorities withdrew them and deployed them in the RRS.
“The Officer in Charge of the RRS couldn’t manage Usman’s attitude and sent him to Illah Police Division. When the Illah DPO couldn’t manage him, he was redeployed to Jesse Division. When the DPO there couldn’t manage him, he sent him to Uvwie Area Command, under the leadership of ACP Aliu Saba.”
The activist further alleged that Usman had a reputation for drug use and extortion, particularly targeting suspected internet fraud suspects.
Sunday PUNCH could not independently verify the drug allegations, but another source with direct knowledge of Usman’s conduct in Delta State confirmed his reputation for violence and the pattern of transfers it produced.
Gwamnishu confirmed the transfer history and noted that Usman was not on duty at the time of the shooting.
“He was not on duty and should not have followed other policemen to arrest Mene,” he added.
Mene: The victim
Mene was born the third child of his mother, Oghenemine.
He attended Wisdom Academy for his primary education and Dore Numa College in Warri for secondary school.
In recent years, he had been making music under the name OG, with several tracks available on the streaming platform Audiomack.
Those who knew him described him as a reserved, community-minded young man.
“My brother was cool and calm. He had never fought anyone. He could sit in a spot, listening to music and pressing his phone for a whole day,” Vine said.
“People in the community protested against his death without being asked. They loved him because he was always there for everybody.”
His mother, Oghenemine, confirmed to journalists at her home on Thursday that Mene was not the first of her children to die in the hands of the police.
An elder son had allegedly been killed by officers in 2022.
“They had earlier killed Mene’s brother. What did I do to the police?” she said. “From the video shown to me, I heard my son begging them — it was someone who sent him to help pick the waybill.”
Institutional response
The Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu, ordered an investigation within hours of the video’s circulation.
Within 24 hours, the police authorities concluded that Usman and four members of his team were guilty of gross misconduct.
All five were dismissed from the Force and are awaiting arraignment.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the Delta State Commissioner of Police, John Oyeniyi, and ACP Aliu Saba, the Area Commander who dispatched the patrol team, may also face sanctions.
In April, Disu had circulated a memo to all senior police officers, making it clear that senior officers would be held personally responsible for misconduct within their commands.
“Any Commissioner of Police under whose command misconduct occurs will be required to explain to my office,” the memo read in part.
“Where the explanation is unsatisfactory, a formal query will be issued. Where failure of supervision persists, a transfer will follow.”
A delegation from the police visited the Mene family home in Effurun on Thursday to express condolences and assure the family of justice.
The family has made it clear that dismissal is not justice.
“We want maximum justice on this matter,” Vine said. “The maximum penalty for anybody who killed an innocent soul should be meted out to the four policemen who killed my brother. This particular inspector, Usman, has been carrying out extrajudicial killings for long.”
The October 2020 #EndSARS protests were among the most significant civil demonstrations in Nigeria’s recent history.
Previous incidents of police brutality
Despite the disbandment of SARS, police brutality has continued to pervade every region of the country.
Findings revealed that Mene was the second victim of police brutality within the space of two months in 2026 in Delta.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that in late March, some policemen in mufti chased a young man to his death in Warri South Local Government Area of the state.
A media practitioner in Delta State, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the policemen allegedly stoned the suspect while he was in a river till he got drowned.
The remains of the suspect were reportedly recovered from the river on March 30.
“They (policemen) chased the guy until he jumped into the river and they started stoning him there until he drowned. The community people protested. They destroyed Ubeji Police Station in Warri South, even after the Ubeji Police Station denied its officers carried out the incident. People say the policemen who killed the guy belonged to a patrol team comprising some members of the defunct SARS,” he said.
In Imo State, a suspect, Okechukwu Ogbedagu, was reportedly beaten to death by policemen attached to the anti-kidnapping unit, notoriously known as Tiger Base, of the Imo State Police Command.
In a report released by Amnesty International in February 2026, the organisation said Ogbedagu was among many suspects who were tortured to death by officers attached to Tiger Base.
Several individuals have also taken to social media to narrate their ordeals in the hands of personnel attached to the Tiger Base unit.
Similarly, a security guard, Japhet Njoku, who was accused of theft, was allegedly beaten to death in police detention in Anambra in May 2025.
Calls for justice
The Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People warned against manipulation of Mene’s case, calling on the police authority to expedite the prosecution of the erring officers.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the spokesperson for the CDRP, Akinkunle Adedayo, said the organisation had taken interest in the matter.
Adedayo said, “The trigger-happy policeman has records of unprofessional conducts and we want this matter to be prosecuted without any manipulation. We’re following up on the case and we will ensure justice is served.”
Also, the National Coordinator of the Take-It-Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, stated that continued police brutality was preparing youths for another round of nationwide protest.
Sanyaolu condemned the Delta killing, describing it as criminal and highly reprehensible.
He also criticised the pace of reforms since the 2020 #EndSARS protests, arguing that little had changed within the policing system.
According to him, meaningful reform must go beyond rhetoric and include structural changes such as continuous training of officers and the introduction of mandatory body cameras to improve accountability.
“There is no reason why policemen should not be compelled to wear body cams. Every police officer must have body cams as part of their kits,” he said.
Sanyaolu further called for the digitalisation of the policing system, noting that technology could enable citizens to report abuses without fear of intimidation or reprisals.
Similarly, the Convener of the EndBadGovernance Protest in Lagos State, Taiwo Hassan, said the incident ought to trigger another nationwide protest against the police.
While maintaining that there was no specific reform to seek again on police, Hassan said it is in the DNA of the police to misbehave.
“To get it clear, the Nigeria Police Force was created in the period of colonialism to oppress and enforce the rule of the empire. That job is still what they are doing right now even after independence. The only thing is that they are serving different masters. It is included in their DNA to be oppressing the people,” he said.
SUNDAY PUNCH
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