NBA charges Delta govt to apprehend, prosecute culprits who murdered man for flouting lockdown order

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Warri branch, has charged the Delta State government to immediately apprehend and prosecute the culprits who allegedly murdered one Mr. Joseph Pessu, for flouting the lockdown order imposed by the state government.

NBA Chairman, Mr. Michael .A. Asugo Esq, in a statement signed and made available to newsmen on Friday condemned the murder of the victim which unfortunately occurred in Ugbuwangue community in Warri on Thursday.

The NBA also urged the state government to immediately set up a committee to monitor the level of compliance by security agencies involved and also re-brief and re-educate the security personnel involved in the enforcement of the directive on what is expected of them.

It said; “The Government should quickly re-brief and re-educate the security personnel involved in the enforcement of the directive on what is expected of them so as to avoid a repeat of the ugly and unwarranted incident of 2nd April, 2020.

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“The irresponsible and undisciplined soldiers who threatened to unleash mayhem on Warri should be fished out and prosecuted as they are obviously not fit and proper persons to be in the Armed Forces of this country.”

According to the NBA, it was the unwarranted harassment of members of the public by security operatives that led to the senseless and unlawful killing of Mr. Joseph Pessu by soldiers which also led to an unconfirmed report of an attack on a military personnel by aggrieved members of the public.

“The issue in turn led to a video in circulation in the social media by some soldiers threatening consequential mayhem on the people of Warri,” the NBA added.

The comments by the NBA, comes after the Delta State Government waved aside the viral video of angry youths who attacked two soldiers in the state after soldiers killed Joseph Pesu for disobeying the lockdown of the state ordered by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

Mr. Charles Aniagwu, the State Commissioner for Information, in a statement on Friday in the state capital of Asaba said that the video of residents defying the stay-at-home order over the coronavirus pandemic and confronting security operatives was concocted and therefore is fake.

According to Mr. Aniagwu who urged the public, particularly Deltans, to discountenance the video, the clips were not a true representation of happenings in Warri or any part of Delta in the last 48 hours.

The commissioner also claimed that the videos in circulation on social media are figments of the imagination of a few disgruntled elements bent at pitching the people against the state government.

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