Protests rocked the Ogidi community, in the Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, as the residents decried the killing of a yet-to-be-identified man. The man was said to have been shot dead by security agents in the area.
While some of the community residents accused a vigilante of being responsible for shooting the victim to death, other persons in the area claimed that an official of the Department of States Services (DSS) pulled the trigger that killed the man.
It was gathered that the deceased was at home making arrangements to visit his wife, who had just delivered a baby when a suspect identified as China, who the security agents were chasing, ran into his premises.
In what appeared to be a desperate bid to arrest China, one of the security agents opened fire, after which a stray bullet from the gunshot hit the man.
The incident, according to an eyewitness, who didn’t want to be mentioned in this report, led to a series of protests in the area as youths in the community took the corpse to the local government secretariat to express their grievances over the development.
The protesters also blocked the entrance to the secretariat with the corpse as they insisted on seeing the chairman but were barred from gaining access by soldiers.
“An innocent man was shot dead by officials of the DSS this morning. The security operatives were looking for a cultist who ran into the deceased’s compound. The man just woke up and they were about to pray, but he excused himself to urinate outside, and the next thing was a gunshot.
“We heard the security operatives were claiming they thought it was the man they were chasing that they shot. The dead man didn’t even know someone ran into his compound.
“He just came out to urinate but got hit by the bullet before returning to his family members for the morning prayers. He had also planned to visit his wife who just put to bed early in the morning. He had not even seen his newborn child. He is the only son of his parents,” the source was quoted as saying.
Anambra Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Tochukwu Ikenga confirmed the incident, saying law and order had been restored in the community.
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