A middle-aged man, identified only as Emeka, was shot dead on Friday by trigger-happy notorious Imo State Ebubeagu security outfit in Orlu over an accident scar on his shoulder.
Ebubeagu is a regional security outfit set up by the South-East governors to combat insecurity across the region. The idea has since been aborted as only Imo and Ebonyi states controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) still held on to the outfit. Since their operation began, the Ebubeagu officials have been accused of committing extra-judicial killings of innocent youths in the two states.
A video of the Friday’s killing which was seen by Easterner, showed a young man lying dead in front of a house with a hole on his right chest and shoulder. Some people were seen gathering to cry and lament his gruesome murder as the deceased was said to be a father of three kids. A woman who claimed to be his mother was also seen narrating the incident in the video. The woman who didn’t mention her name in the video stated that the incident happened on Friday, around 8am in the morning.
According to her, “The wife came to us because I was with his father, and said that she was looking for him and, that his phone was not going. We started trying his phone also. Soon, thereafter, his phone rang and somebody picked the call and said they were with him; that they were Ebubeagu.
“They said he had a mark on his shoulder and her husband told them that the mark or scar was a result of an accident he had in the past. When his father came out to meet them in front of our house, they (Ebubeagu) told him that he (my son) could not tell them what to do that he was stubborn.”
“He (my son) did not resist any arrest, he didn’t carry weapon, he was not found in possession of anything that the law prohibited. So why killing him extra-judicially? If you are convinced or have reason to suspect that the scar was not as a result of accident as his father had explained; why not take him to court? Why shoot him dead? Who gave them right over his life? They killed him and left his body behind; they should have carried him to go and eat,” she lamented.
The grieving mother said that her son had committed no offence neither did he resist arrest; she demanded for justice.
“You can see what the government of Hope Uzodinma is doing in Imo State, spreading sorrow and anguish in families.”
Easterner’ efforts to get reaction of the Imo State Police Command were unsuccessful as the command’s spokesman, CSP Mike Abattam, did not take his calls as his phone rang out.
