Security operatives shoot dead 27yr-old daughter of traditional ruler in Ebonyi
[From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki]
A 27-year-old woman, Miss Elizabeth Agwu, was shot dead by security operatives at Onuafor Enuagu village, Onicha-Igboeze in Onicha Local Government Area, of Ebonyi State, Wednesday.
The deceased is daughter of traditional ruler, Oshimiri 1 of Onicha, HRH Ezeogo Oshimiri Agwu, and younger sister of Ebonyi State Correspondent of The Sun Newspaper Correspondent, Agwu Chijioke.
The incident, it was gathered, took place on Wednesday, around 6pm.
Eyewitnesses claim the shot was fired by policemen attached to the local security outfit, Ebube Agu, even as other say it was the civilian members of the task force.
The security operatives suspected to be a combined team of the men of the Nigeria Police and Ebube Agu security outfit, allegedly went to the area to arrest a coffin maker, and on the process, started shooting sporadically to scare the residents away.
The deceased, Miss Elizabeth, who was said to be selling fruit within the area was attending to her customers, when she was hit by stray bullets.
She was said to have died on the way to Abakaliki, where she was being brought for medical treatment.
Mr Agwu Chijioke, while narrating the incident, said: “Policemen came to my village, Enuagu, Onicha Igboeze, in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State today, 8/9/2021 to harass residents.
“In the melee, they shot and killed my younger sister, who was selling fruits at the Junction.”
A stakeholder of the community, Hon Linus Abaa Okorie who represented Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo Federal constituency, condemned the incident.
Okorie while giving account of the incident, wrote in his verified Facebook wall, thus: “This young girl of about 25, a hardworking youth and daughter of HRH Oshimili Agwu Nwukpa, peacefully plying her legitimate trade of selling fruits at Onuafor Enuagu, Onicha Igboeze; was gruesomely gunned down by reckless “security operatives” this evening. She was hit by bullets from the guns of these goons while attending to her customers in her shop.
“While some say that the reckless shooters were POLICEMEN from Onicha Command Isu, other eyewitnesses insist that they were EBUBEAGU operatives that came in an UNMARKED WHITE HILUX from Isu to arrest a certain COFFIN MAKER for unclear allegations.
“Whichever group is responsible for this crime, it is one attack too many on the peaceful people of Onicha Igboeze; and the atrocity must be fully investigated and prosecuted.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Loveth Odah, while reacting to the incident in a WhatsApp message, said, she had noted the incident, adding that the police authority in the State had swung into action to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killing of the deceased.
“This is very sad and unacceptable. Please, dear brother Chijioke Agwu, take heart. I have informed the Police Authority of your complaint and we are seriously on it to unravel the team that exhibited this unprofessional conduct… “If they are actually Police officers,” the Police spokesman said.
Governors of the South-East state had in April 2021 announced the establishment of Ebube Agu.
The outfit was charged with the responsibility to coordinate all the activities of vigilantes in the South-East and check the rising level of insecurity in the region.
