Delta youths protest as Police officer kills businessman over N100

Some youths of Asaba protested against the alleged murder of a 30-year-old businessman by Obi Abri, a police inspector assigned to the Asaba Area Command, on Wednesday, 5th April 2023.

It was reported that the deceased, Ibe Emmanuel Onyeka, was allegedly shot dead after refusing to give out N100 at a checkpoint in the Ugbolu region.

After a contentious debate with the police officer over the money, the late Onyeka, a phone vendor at the well-known Ogbogonogo Market, was reportedly shot in the head at close range.

Some of the protesters grieved the deceased’s death, describing him as a true gentleman.

According to one Kester, “They killed the businessman in the presence of his newly pregnant wife. He is an international businessman with eight shops. They killed him for N100.00. They asked him to stop and he stopped. He is not a Yahoo boy, he sells phones.”

Another colleague of the deceased, Obi, called for justice for Onyeka.

However, Inspector Abri, the man accused of killing the businessman, asserted that no one had demanded money from him; rather, he had simply declined to stop for a check.

Inspector Abri said, “We were five in number. I feel very bad because this was not intentional,” Abri said.

He added: “This afternoon, we embarked on patrol of Illah road, where we were doing stop and search. I heard a voice from about 15 kilometres, ‘hold him, hold him’. Before. I could turn, the young man used his left hand to hold the nozzle of my  rifle, and said, ‘I will kill you and go with your rifle’.

Before I could turn to drag it with him, my belt entered the trigger and it fired. It was not intentional if he had not touched the nozzle of the gun, it would not have happened.

In the meantime, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ari  Mohammed Alli, who was held hostage for hours  by protesters at the police headquarters, said the suspected killer of the businessman has been arrested.

Ali appealed to the victim’s family and the general public to be calm.

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