The Itsekiri National Youths Council has protested the killing of one Mr. Joseph Pessu by security agents for allegedly flouting ‘stop and search order’ of police, calling for full investigation into the matter so as to bring those behind the act to book.
In a statement by the INYC president, Mr. Weyinmi Agbateyoniro, and Secretary, Mr. Appearance Afejuku, he expressed shock with the killing, explaining that the said Itsekiri youth was killed by a trigger-happy armed soldier and not because he flouted any laws.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Itsekiri National Youths Council (INYC) and its President, Comr. Weyinmi Agbateyiniro, have been drawn to the gruesome killing of one of his members by men of the Nigerian Army at Ada Val Arenyenka Street, Ugbuwangue earlier this morning in Warri.
“The council gathered that Late Mr. Joseph Pessu, a law abiding citizen and committed member of the INYC was racing through NPA Expressway to pick his sick father to the hospital when men of the Nigerian Army flagged him down.
“Before he could apply his brakes, one of his tyres was deflated. He managed to negotiate into the nearby Ada Val Arenyenka Street.
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“As he alighted from his car to query why he was shot at, one of the gun wielding officers shot him at close range. Mr. Joseph died on the spot.
“The INYC is using this medium to call on the Delta State Government and the Nigerian Army to fish out the recalcitrant and blood thirsty Army officer who used the excuse of the COVID-19 lockdown enforcement to murder a defenseless citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The INYC queries the deployment of men of the Nigerian Army to enforce a Lockdown against a virus that is yet to claim any life in Warri and Delta State, but instead it is the bullet of the Nigerian Army Officer that has claimed a precious life.
“We demand justice for late Joseph Pessu. We want the murderous officer to be apprehended and punished according to the dictates of the law.
“Otherwise, we may not be able to manage the events that will happen hereinafter, especially in this period of lockdown.”