Posted by By VAL OKARA, Owerri on
Every effort made by the parents of Mr. Oliver Udoka Okafor, 31, of Ndiakaeme Ulo Arondizuogu of Ideato North LGA of Imo State to train him up to graduate level ended on March 18 when a trigger-happy policeman wasted him.
Every effort made by the parents of Mr. Oliver Udoka Okafor, 31, of Ndiakaeme Ulo Arondizuogu of Ideato North LGA of Imo State to train him up to graduate level ended on March 18 when a trigger-happy policeman wasted him.
Okafor, a graduate from Michael Okpara College of Agriculture (MOCA), Umuagwo, who turned to a GSM mobile phone dealer was said to have been shot dead by a member of police patrol team few metres to his house at No. 32 Tetlow Road, Owerri when he closed for the day's business at about 11.25 pm.
Stepping out of his office premises at No 34 Mbaise Road, Owerri, a Mitsubishi L-300 with six occupants in mufti, all armed with guns crossed his path, but little did he know that the occupants were policemen. One of the policemen against the instruction of the leader of patrol team not to harm Oliver cocked his gun, and shot him on his chest.
Giving the graphic details of the incident, the younger brother to the deceased, Tochukwu Okafor told Daily Sun that the driver of the said Mitsubishi L-300 bus pointed at the ‘Ghana-must-go bag' being carried by his late elder brother.
Tochukwu, a member of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Enugu State chapter said, 'when I finished packing our goods, my brother, Oliver came out from the house in men's boxers and took the ‘Ghana-must-go bag'. As he stepped out of our shop few metres, a Mitsubishi bus crossed him and inside the vehicle were six men in mufti, all armed with guns.
'The driver of the bus was pointing at his bag, he started moving to the direction of our house (building), two men jumped out of the vehicle and he stopped when he discovered that the men were after him".
According to Tochukwu, his late brother pleaded with them (two men), and the leader of the patrol team was shouting at them that they should not shoot him but one of them went ahead to cock his gun and wasted him.
'The leader of the patrol team was shouting, don't fire, don't fire, one of the policemen cocked his gun, even wanted to shoot at me but I escaped. Then he shot my elder brother on the chest and the bullets pierced through his heart".
Tochukwu stated that the leader of the police patrol team disarmed the trigger-happy cop and left with the ‘Ghana-must-go bag' but returned to the scene of the incident few minutes later and took the corpse to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri where the doctor confirmed Oliver dead.
The corpse was taken to Aladinma Hospital mortuary by the same team.
The command spokesman, Mr. Chike Nwabuwa (DSP) who confirmed the incident said the suspect, Corporal Yusuf Mohammed has been detained and investigation is still going on.
He said that the suspect would be charged to court for murder at the end of the investigation.