A market organization, operating under the auspices of the Imo State Amalgamated Markets and Traders Association (ISAMATA), said Wednesday that Imo State Police Command agents were responsible for the murder of Ebere Chibuike, one of its members.
The victim, a trader at the Timber and Allied Industrial Market, Nazi, Owerri, was assassinated on Monday morning by persons who appeared to be police officers and were there to detain certain traders for an unknown cause. He was commonly known as Wazzi.
Henry Okoye, a spokesman for the police, and Shehu Lamuwa, a representative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), denied any involvement.. Okoye said: “Information we have gathered so far indicates that it wasn’t the police that shot the trader. However, the DPO in charge of the area has since mobilised to the scene for on-the-spot analysis and discreet investigation.”
But President of ISAMATA, Emmanuel Ezeanochie, flayed the police for not taking responsibility 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 the activities of the policemen, who, according to him, regularly visit the market to harass, molest, intimidate traders and arrest those who have committed no offence.
Ezeanochie said he could have mobilised his members for a protest against the incident but decided to toe the line 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 in the killing of 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’s Commissioner of Police to immediately place sanctions on the erring police officers.
“The government should also consider the deceased’s young family, 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.
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