DURING the recent forceful demolition of the Owerri main market in Imo State, an exercise reportedly supervised by men of the 34 Artillery Brigade, the Air Force, the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), 10-year-old Somtochukwu Ibeanusi was shot dead. Just a few moments before that tragic occurrence, the young lad was full of life, helping his father to pack whatever could still be retrieved from his shop, as the demolition squad moved closer.
According to media reports, there was a court injunction restraining the state governor, Mr. Rochas Okorocha, from carrying out the demolition exercise. Naturally, quite a number of people felt dissatisfied with the demolition exercise, and they protested against it. In any case, it beggars belief that a seemingly simple demolition exercise in a democratic dispensation could generate such palpable animus between the governor and the citizens as to warrant the use of combined forces on a civilian population and thereafter be confronted with the gory spectacle of the murder of an innocent child. Although both the government and the Nigerian Army have denied that anybody was killed during the demolition exercise, Somtochukwu’s body, with a bullet lodged in his head, was published in the media. The picture of the distraught father lamenting the murder of his son by soldiers on a rampage was heartrending.
There was no need to have approached the demolition exercise with such maximum force, especially if there was a subsisting court injunction restraining the action. The governor’s insistence on the action bordered on executive impunity and contempt for the rule of law. It was definitely in poor taste and an example of brigandage. The action was unbecoming of someone occupying the exalted office of a governor. Abuse of power in any form can only breed anarchy. As both the governor and the military have denied that anybody was killed during the demolition exercise, contrary to the claims of the bereaved father and eyewitnesses, an investigation into the killing of the child should commence immediately after an autopsy on his corpse. That is the only procedure that can absolve the military and the governor who ordered the forceful demolition in the first place.
We believe that the callous killing of this innocent boy deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms, because even the international rules of engagement in wars recommend the safety of women and children. The killing of a child in a relatively peaceful state cannot be justified. The engagement of a combination of ruthless forces to supervise a demolition exercise smacks of highhandedness on the part of the constituted authorities in Imo State. On current evidence, there is scarcely any compassion for the citizens being governed and this is very sad and sobering.
Such actions as these tend to rub off negatively on Nigeria’s image. They occur too frequently and must be curbed before too long. The government has a bounden duty to protect lives and property and the Federal Government should take more than a passing interest in this case, especially because all the security agencies allegedly involved in this episode are under its wings. It is curious that while many governors have always complained of not being sufficiently equipped to assume the role of Chief Security Officer of their respective states since they do not have any control of the security agencies, Governor Okorocha was able to mobilise the agencies of the Federal Government for a tragic demolition exercise.
and then