Photo: Captain Allegedly Murdered By Crew Members On-Board

The deceased, identified as
Captain Aiyenumelo Felix of Nigeria Marine Navy, was allegedly killed by his
crew members on board, on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 in the Atlantic Ocean,
within Nigeria’s territorial waters.

Although details surrounding the
death of Aiyenumelo Felix are still sketchy, it was gathered that the mutilated
body of the captain was found by another vessel two days after he was declared
missing by crew members, with an iron anchor tied on his neck.

When the remains of the late
captain arrived the company’s operational base at Kirikiri phase 2, blood was
still gushing out of the bloated body, which had several deep cuts on the head
and hands, suggesting that he must have been murdered before he was thrown into
the waters.

Speaking to Vanguard at the scene,
Captain Romans, a relative of the deceased, said when the incident happened,
the company refused to contact family members.

“I had to personally go to the
company to confirm the incident when I first heard about it. When I asked the
GM why they didn’t contact the family members, he said they didn’t have the
contact address of the Captain’s family.

“I wondered how the company will
not have the family contact of a man who had worked for them for over 20
years,” he lamented.

Fenyintola, second son of the
deceased, who was still in shock, said: “My father initially refused to go with
the vessel because he was not feeling too well, as he came back from sea
several weeks back after sustaining an arm injury.

“He was still receiving treatment
when they forced him to board, threatening to fire him if he refused to board.
See how they have killed him.”

While investigating the case, the
police arrested several persons, many of who had since been released.

The General Manager of the company
and Group Chief Security officer, Commissioner of Police Essient (retd) were
under pressure from the deceased family members, who protested the undue delay
in presentation of the corpse for identification.

They were initially told to report
to the company’s office at about 7am to identify the corpse but had to wait for
six hours for the vessel bearing the remains to finally arrive.

Ten crew members, who were on
board with the late captain have been arrested by the Marine Police from Marine
headquarters, Onikan, while the remains of the deceased had been deposited in
the mortuary.

It was gathered that the captain,
survived by his wife and six children, comprising four girls and two boys, had
worked for the company for over 20 years before his brutal murder.