By Tarakirivoice Editorial Team
A young man is dead.
His name was Odutua Patrick Peresuodei.And tonight, Bayelsa State stands accused — not by rumor, not by sentiment, but by the cold weight of unanswered questions, official contradictions, and a system that once again appears more interested in self-preservation than justice.This is not just about Patrick.
This is about power without conscience, policing without humanity, and influence that walks freely while ordinary blood dries silently on the floor.
The Bayelsa State Police Command tells us they have “commenced investigation.” But investigation into what, exactly? A man was arrested healthy enough to be paraded, questioned, and detained — yet released incoherent, bruised, broken, and allegedly “mentally unstable,” only to die shortly after. And we are expected to accept this as coincidence?
No. The public is not foolish.Grief has opened our eyes.Let us speak plainly.
The Police admit that bruises were observed on Patrick’s body upon arrival at the station. That single sentence alone should shake the foundations of the Command. If he arrived injured, who injured him? If he was injured before custody, why was no immediate independent medical intervention ordered? If his condition deteriorated in custody, why was he not transferred to a proper medical facility under police supervision?
Instead, he was released — not healed, not whole, but discarded.Released to die.
And now, after death has sealed his lips forever, the same institution that had custody of his body pleads with the public: “Do not drag the Command into this.”
Dragged?
Dragged into what they were already standing in?The police do not get to ask for calm when accountability is absent. Calm is earned by truth. Silence is earned by justice. Trust is earned by transparency. None has been sufficiently given.
Then there is Apostle Bodmas Prince Kemepadei — a man of titles: father, religious leader, youth leader. A man who says he mourns, yet speaks at length to defend reputation before demanding justice for a dead young man. A man who says he had no contact, yet whose name is inseparably tied to the arrest that began this fatal chain of events.
Yes, he says he is “open to investigation.”But openness is not a press statement.Innocence is not self-certified.
Truth is not established by sermons or status.When a citizen initiates an arrest, arrives with security operatives, and the arrested ends up dead after visible injuries and police custody, moral responsibility does not end with denial. Leadership demands more than sympathy — it demands surrender to full, independent scrutiny without intimidation, without legal threats, without attempts to control narrative.
Threats of defamation against grieving voices do not heal wounds.They deepen suspicion.What we are witnessing is a familiar Nigerian tragedy:
The poor die.The powerful explain.Institutions issue statements.And justice waits — often forever.
Patrick Peresuodei is not a hashtag.He is not a “mixed reaction.”He is not a footnote in a press release.He was someone’s son. Someone’s brother. Someone who should be alive today.And so we ask — loudly, painfully, and without apology:Why was a visibly injured man kept in custody without urgent independent medical care?Why was he released instead of protection?Who inflicted the injuries seen by police officers themselves?Why does every official narrative appear designed to distance responsibility rather than confronting it?
Why should the public trust an investigation conducted by the same system that failed him?
This is the moment Bayelsa must decide who it is.
Will this be another death explained away by procedure and grammar?
Or will this be the line the people draw — demanding independent investigation, suspension of involved officers, full public disclosure, and real consequences, no matter how connected the names involved may be?
Justice does not fear scrutiny.Truth does not hide behind press statements.And the dead do not get second chances.Patrick Peresuodei cannot speak anymore.But the people still can.And this time, silence would be complicity.
By Tarakirivoice Editorial Team
