Delta state governor Ifeanyi Okowa, deputy senate president Ovie Omo-Agege and labour minister Festus Keyamo have called for a thorough investigation into the killing of a 28-year-old Joseph Pessu in Warri on Thursday.
Pessu, an Itsekiri youth, was reportedly killed by a soldier of a team enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown directive of the state government in Warri on Thursday
The State Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu said the state government has sent a delegation to the deceased family to condole with them over the loss of their son and contacted the military to investigate.
Chairman of Warri South Local Government Area in Delta State, Michael Tidi, said videos circulating on social media about the killing were concocted to embarrass Warri.
Omo-Agege condemned the alleged gruesome killing of Joseph Pessu by men of the Nigerian Army enforcing the stay at home order of the Delta State Government.
Keyamo called the incident “disturbing, barbaric and high-handedness on the part of the men of the armed forces.”
Eyewitness account said the soldier shot Joseph Pessu dead after a hot chase as he failed to stop when he was flagged down by a combined team of security operatives, who mounted barricade at Ugbuwangue, Warri South Council Area.
The deceased, who had abandoned the deflated car and ran into a nearby bush, was pursued by the killer soldier and shot him in the waist first to demobilise him, before another direct aim on his chest that killed him on the spot.
A military source, however claimed the soldiers suspected the deceased was an armed robber going by the way he drove the car and refused to stop despite the chase.
“When the deceased refused to stop, the soldier went after him and shot at one of the rear tyres. The young man continued to drive the car with a burst tyre until he got to Ogunu. He blocked the road with his car, jumped out and started running.
“It was then the soldier assumed him to be a suspect and shot at him. Immediately the incident happened, the soldier drove directly to the Area Command of the Nigeria Police to report himself.
“As we speak, the man is devastated, we cannot get information from him, this narrative was given to us by one of the police officers at the checkpoint,” the source concluded”, the source explained.
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