My daughter disdains police after cop shot her dad dead during Shi’ites protest – Widow of late Abuja journalist

Alex Ogbu, an Abuja- based journalist,  was allegedly shot  dead  by  men of the Federal Capital Territory Police in 2020  while he  was  covering a protest  by  members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. His widow, Francesca, tells SOLOMON ODENIYI that  life has been  difficult and vows  never to  back down in her quest for justice

It has been  two years  since the  death of your husband, how has  life been  without him?

Life has been  challenging and  difficult  because  there is  nobody  that can fill  the gap created  by his  death. I  have been  in and out of depression. At a  point I  was  also confused. I  just thank God. I haven’t  worked  for two years. To pay my daughter’s  school fees,  rent  without  help has  not been easy. I  sometimes get  help from  friends and  families and if  not for them  things  would  have been  much harder. All the  promises made after the incident, have  turned out to be empty  promises.

What are your  recollections of the day of his  death?

When he  was going to  cover that protest, I  told him to  let me  follow him  but he said, “We can’t have  two radical  people from the  same  house  at the protest;  it will  not work.” It  was  as if he knew  something  was going to happen. As he  was  about stepping out, he  told his daughter, “Be  a good  girl at  school today.”

Why did you  suggest to  follow him to his  assignment on that day? Did  you have any premonition?

Usually, I  followed him to  some of his assignments. If he  was  organising a press  conference or  handling  other tasks, I  usually acted as his secretary  because I  read  administration and we  tried to  keep  things as  professional as possible.