- State govt calls for Police “thorough investigations”
There is raging anger in Anambra State over the shooting to death of a trader at the Ọgbọ Ọgwụ Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, on Friday.
Sources confirmed that the trader was shot while he was urinating at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, allegedly by personnel of the Special Anambra State Anti-touting Squad (SASA).
In fact, an eyewitness said it “was a black Friday in this market. The operatives killed a man simply because he urinated along the Onitsha-Asaba Expressway.”
The situation escalated as the operatives allegedly sealed off public toilets and extorted money from individuals caught urinating outside. Two bystanders were hit by stray bullets, adding to the toll of casualties.
This incident comes on the heels of a similar tragedy in December 2023, when a stray bullet, believed to be from the same Anti-touting Squad, claimed the life of a young man named Chimezie in the Onitsha-Owerri Road area. The victim, who had recently completed his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), was struck while standing on the balcony of his residence.
But the Anambra State government has refuted claims that personnel of its anti-touting security outfit shot dead the trader, calling on the Nigeria Police “to thoroughly investigate what led to this unfortunate incident and ensure that those responsible for this heinous act are made to face the wrath of the law.”
The State government claimed that the trader was hit, not by SASA, but by a stray bullet from gunshots fired by the market security personnel during a shoot-out with personnel of the Nigerian Navy.
A viral video showed the yet-to-be-identified trader being rushed to a hospital by other traders and sympathisers but unfortunately, he was said to have died shortly after.
In the video, some of the traders were heard accusing personnel of the Special Anambra State Anti-touting Squad (SASA) of shooting the trader to death while they were carrying out an operation in the area.
There have been no love lost between the traders in Anambra State and the SASA over accusations of high-handedness and cruelty in carrying out their assignements.
The State Commissioner for Information, Paul Nwosu, explained in a statement on Saturday night that the anti-touts security personnel were carrying out an operation near the market to arrest some touts extorting residents in the area when some of them ran into the market to evade arrest.
Mr Nwosu claimed that some shop owners in the market attacked the anti touting security outfit agents with acid after the personnel pursued the touts into the market.
The Commissioner said four out of the seven-man anti-touts security operatives “sustained life threatening injuries” from the acid attack.
“As if the acid attack was not effective, the market security personnel started shooting at the unarmed SASA officials.
“When it was obvious that SASA could not arrest the touts in the market as a result of the life threatening attack against them, they retreated,” he said, adding, “It was at this point that the Nigerian Navy intervened to arrest the ugly situation.”
Buttressing his assertion that the trader was hit by a stray bullet from gunshots fired by the market security personnel during a shoot-out with personnel of the Nigerian Navy, Nwosu said the cartridges found around the trader were those of pump action rifles usually used by vigilante groups and market security personnel.
“The cartridges don’t fit into the model of service rifles used by the Nigerian Navy. SASA does not carry firearms and couldn’t have shot the young man for whatever reason.
“Moreover, SASA’s brief is not to kill, but to arrest touts who are extorting money from hard working Ndi Anambra. And where arrests are made, the suspects are made to face the law,” the Commissioner added.
Mr Nwosu said it was unfortunate that a suspected violator of the law fleeing from arrest was given “protection by a legitimate market” whose leadership was recognised by the state government.
He added that the incident was strange because the market leaders were among the many individuals who called on Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State to fight touting and extortion in the state.
“(The Anambra State) Government is calling on the police to thoroughly investigate what led to this unfortunate incident and ensure that those responsible for this heinous act are made to face the wrath of the law,” he stated.
Anambra State Police Command’s Spokesperson, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, has ordered a prompt probe into the matter.
According to Ikenga: “The victims were rushed to the hospital where the doctor confirmed one dead. The police also recovered six expended cartridges from the scene.”