By Ndubuisi Precious
A market group under the aegis of Imo State Amalgamated Markets and Traders Association (ISAMATA) has insisted that operatives of the Imo State Police Command were behind the killing of one of their members, Ebere Chibuike.
The deceased popularly known as Wazzi, a trader at Timbre and Allied Industrial Market, Nazi, Owerri was killed on Monday morning by men suspected to be police men who came to enforce arrest some of the traders over an undisclosed reason.
However, after the incident both the Police Command through its Spokesman, ASP Henry Okoye and the spokesman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Shehu Lamuwa have denied involvement over the killing.
Okoye said, “Information we have gathered so far indicates it wasn’t the Police that shot the trader. However, the DPO in charge of the area has since been mobilized to the scene for on-the-spot analysis and discreet investigation.”
But, Emmanuel Ezeanochie aka Chenko, President of ISAMATA, who spoke to our reporter over the incident flayed the police for denying being responsible for the killing.
According to him, "the police cannot deny being responsible for the killing because all the traders in the market know them (police) even by their names."
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He said the market association has severally resisted attempts to confront the activities of the policemen who, according to him, regularly visit the market to harass, molest and intimidate traders and arrest those who have committed nothing.
The market group boss said he could have mobilized his members for a protest against the police but decided not to toe the path of dialogue considering the security condition in the state.
He said, “I don’t know what to tell them if they deny being responsible for the killing. Who doesn’t know them by their faces in the market? There is no week that passes without the police visiting the market and harassing and intimidating the traders.
"Denying responsibility of the killing Wazzi will only make the situation worse because the incident took place in the open and it was obvious that one of the officers shot him dead either accidentally or deliberately."
“We are calling on the Imo state government and the state Commissioner of Police to immediately place sanction on the erring police officers.
"The government should also consider the young family of the slain trader who are currently in agony and find a way to restore hope to them. Anything short of this will enrage the traders in the state.” he added.
