Chaos in warri as delta state registers first death over Covid 19 lockdown

Delta State today recorded first death in the novel COVID-19 not because anyone contacted the virus but because trigger happy soldiers gunned down one Mr Joseph Pessu in an attempt to enforce lockdown the city.

Reacting the sad incident, the Itsekiri National Youths Council (INYC) has protested the killing by security agents for allegedly flouting stop and search order of the police on Thursday, calling for full investigation into the matter so as to bring those behind the act to book.

In a statement by the INYC President, Comrade Weyinmi Agbateyoniro, and the Group’s Secretary, Comrade Appearance Afejuku, the INYC expressed shock at the killing, explaining that the said Itsekiri youth was killed by a trigger-happy armed soldier and not because he flouted any laws.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Itsekiri National Youths Council (INYC) and its President Comr. Weyinmi Agbateyiniro, have been drawn to the gruesome killing of one of his members by men of the Nigerian Army at Ada Val Arenyenka Street, Ugbuwangue earlier this morning in Warri.

“The Council gathered that Late Mr Joseph Pessu, a law-abiding citizen and committed member of the INYC was racing through NPA Expressway to pick his sick father to the hospital when men of the Nigerian Army flagged him down.

“Before he could apply his brakes, one of his tyres was deflated. He managed to negotiate into the nearby Ada Val Arenyenka Street. As he alighted from his car to query why he was shot at, one of the gun-wielding officers shot him at close range. Mr. Joseph died on the spot.

“The INYC is using this medium to call on the Delta State Government and the Nigerian Army to fish out the recalcitrant and blood-thirsty Army officer who used the excuse of the Covid-19 Lockdown enforcement to murder a defenseless citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The INYC queries the deployment of men of the Nigerian Army to enforce a Lockdown against a virus that is yet to claim any life in Warri and Delta State but instead it is the bullet of the Nigerian Army Officer that has claimed a precious life.

“We demand justice for late Joseph Pessu. We want the murderous officer to be apprehended and punished according to the dictates of the law. Otherwise, we may not be able to manage the events that will happen hereinafter especially in this period of Lockdown”, the group added.

Meanwhile the incident has led to a breakdown of law and order in the metropolis as residents in their numbers deployed for mob action against law enforcement agents in Warri