LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has met with newspaper distributors and vendors in Abuja over the killing of a vendor, Ifeanyi Okereke.
He also met on Saturday with the family of the deceased at the Okereke family home in Kwata village, Madalla/Suleja area of Niger State, as promised in his second statement on the incident.
Newspaper vendors in the Federal Capital Territory had, on Friday, staged a peaceful protest in reaction to the killing of Okereke, demanding justice for the family.
However during the meeting with the Speaker, leaders of the distributors and vendors acknowledged that he (Gbajabiamila) had always identified with them.
According to them, the protests were to demand justice for their dead colleague, not a protest against the speaker.
The Point had reported that Gbajabiamila said on Friday that the shot that killed the vendor in Abuja was fired by one Abdullahi Hassan, an official of the Department of State Services attached to him.
Gbajabiamila had said, in his second statement on the unfortunate incident, that he had handed the said official to the DSS for investigation and appropriate administrative and judicial action.
He said he had also been suspended from the convoy.
The Nigeria Police Force had earlier said the vendor, identified as Ifeanyi Okereke, was not shot by a police operative.
The Speaker, who said the sad event had left him shaken, added that he would ensure that the Okereke family received full measure of justice.
The statement read, “The unfortunate death of Mr Ifeanyi Okereke at the hands of one of my security aides has left me deeply shaken.
“Mr Okereke was a citizen going about his business, trying to make a living for himself and his family. There is no reason for his life to have ended the way it did.
“This morning, I have handed over the security operative, Abdullahi M. Hassan, to the Department of State Security (DSS) for investigation and appropriate administrative and judicial action. In the interim, he has been suspended from the convoy.
“l expect, and I will see to it that the family of Mr Ifeanyi Okereke receives the full measure of justice so that their bereavement is not compounded by any actions that can cause them further pain and suffering.
“I have expressed my personal condolence to his family and have arranged to meet with them when the parents of Mr Okereke, who are already on their way, arrive in Abuja.
“Additionally, I have committed to them that I will support his wife and the immediate family he has left behind.”
