The Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has condemned the killing of a newspaper vendor, Ifeanyi Okereke, in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, by a Nigerian Police officer attached to his convoy.
Gbajabiamila said that to ensure proper prosecution of the perpetrator, he has been suspended and that he has initiated an investigation to unravel other details on what transpired at the scene.
The deceased vendor, who became a father few hours before, was said to have been shot in the head when he and his former colleagues flocked the speaker’s convoy to ask for cash gift to cater for their needs.
As learnt, Okereke was rushed to the National Hospital by his brother and some police officers, where he was pronounced dead by medical personnel and confirmed by Chairman of the Newspapers Vendors Association in FCT, Etim Eteng.
Confirming the tragedy, the speaker in a statement posted on his official social media accounts, condemned the action of his aide and stated that he was never instructed to carry out such.
He stated that the vendor and his colleagues had known him for long and that it had become a usual location where he often had stopover when leaving the secretariat premises.
In the statement made public on Friday, he commiserated with family of the deceased and assured that necessary actions would be taken to ensure that the vendor gets justice.
“A horrible incident has taken place. This evening as I left the national assembly, I stopped as usual to exchange pleasantries with the newspaper vendors at the corner. Many of them have known me since I first moved to Abuja and it was a friendly exchange.
