By Izunna Okafor, Awka
An officer of the recently-launched security operatives in Anambra State, Agụnechemba (popularly known as Operation Udo Ga-Achị) has reportedly gunned down a 12-year-old boy in Anambra State, adding to the list of “unjustifiable killings” by the operatives since its launch in March this year.
The incident reportedly occurred on the Democracy Day, Thursday, at the Ifejika Street, Sokoto Road, near the popular Biafra Market in Onitsha South Local Government Area of the State, where the yet-to-be-identified young boy was said to have met his untimely death in the hands of the officers who were said to be attached to the Onitsha South Local Government.
According to eyewitnesses, the young boy was sitting on a culvert beside the Nwangene Drainage, apparently on his way to use a nearby toilet, when he was suddenly fired by the trigger-happy operative, without any provocation or confrontation.
It was further gathered that immediately the boy fell there in the pool of his blood, the security operatives, allegedly attempted to flee the scene in their vehicle, but were stopped by angry residents and traders, who immediately trooped out, blocked them and insisted that they must not abandon the boy’s corpse at the scene.
The operatives, however, eventually carried the corpse away after being overwhelmed and pressured by the crowd, which included traders residents and members of a local vigilante group in the market.
This was corroborated by a video trending on social media, showing two of the Agụnechemba security operatives carrying the dead body of the boy into the back of their van, which bears the operation number ANSG 0060, toll-free line 112, 5111, and mobile number 08002200008.
Reacting to the incident, a local vigilante officer in the area, who simply identified himself as Nwadibia, said they had to act swiftly to ensure the boy’s corpse was not abandoned and that the real culprits were held responsible.
“If Operation Udo Ga-Achị had not been forced to take the boy’s body, the blame may have been shifted to us later,” he stated.
Some eyewitnesses also claimed that the operatives had been notorious for similar extrajudicial killings and that they often go unpunished.
“There was no altercation. The boy had done nothing wrong. He was simply trying to relieve himself when he was shot,” a resident said recounted.
Another eyewitness, Mr. Magnus Okoli, a trader in the area, described the killing as “senseless, barbaric and tragic,” stressing that the operatives acted with recklessness and impunity and was even more wrong by attempting to flee.
“He was clearly just a child — barely a teenager. Even if they suspected him of anything, they should have questioned him, not shoot. From where their van was parked to where the boy sat, you can clearly see that it was a targeted action, and not a mistake. So, they can’t claim that it was an accidental discharge, as usual,” he said.
When contacted via WhatsApp by this reporter, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Anambra State Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, was yet to react to the video of the incident forwarded him or respond to the question asked by the reporter, as at the time of filing this report.
Similarly, further efforts by this reporter to get the reactions of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Homeland Security, Chief Ken Emeakayi, proved abortive, as he refused to pick his call respond to the message sent to him, as at the time of this report publication.
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