Father of Rivers security guard killed by POLICEMAn says he will commit suicide

The father of a Rivers 29-year-old security guard shot dead by a trigger-happy policeman in Port Harcourt on Sunday has demanded justice and threatened to end his life if the killer of his only son was not brought to book. The 62-year-old retiree, Innocent Gbaraka, from Gwara community in Khana Local Government Area, said he didn’t have any more reason to continue living after his son’s death. Gbaraka said he was informed of his son’s death in Church on Sunday that a policeman working at the same firm with his son had shot him dead while he was on duty. Although it was still unclear what transpired between the victim and his assailant identified as Inspector James, it was gathered that the victim was shot in the head around 2am on Sunday and the corpse deposited at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital mortuary. Narrating to Journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday, Gbaraka said, “I was in Church when someone came to inform me that my son who left the house for work is dead, I thought that it was a joke until the person that informed me took me to UPTH where I saw my son in his security guard uniform laying dead in a pool of his own blood.

“When I asked the supervisor of the company where my son worked what happened, he told me that a policeman attached to the same company shot my son dead, the supervisor said the policeman is inspector James. He said his slain son who was an accounting graduate from the Imo state polytechnic was his family’s breadwinner and his only hope, adding that he could still not phantom the fact that he was going to bury his beloved son who he had high hopes in.

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Meanwhile, the Ogoni Youth Federation has threatened to carry out a mass protest in the state if the police failed to arrest and prosecute the accused policeman within 48 hours. Speaking on behalf of the youths, Legborsi Yamaabana called on the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, to pacify the grieving family of the late Gospel Gbaraka and to prevent the 62-year-old father from ending his life following the incident. “We demand that inspector James face justice within 48 hours and the family of the victim taken care of. We are also demanding that the Governor of Rivers State with immediate effect meet with the victim’s family and pacify them because we don’t want the father of this boy to commit suicide, we don’t want suicide in our state.”

On his part the State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, assured the people that justice would be served in the matter as no police officer found wanting would be shielded from prosecution, adding that the duty of every police officer was to protect innocent citizens and not to kill them. “We didn’t send policemen to go out there to kill innocent citizens, the police are mandated to protect them, Nobody will cover anyone from facing justice, justice is going to be done in this matter, we did not send any policeman to go out there and kill innocent citizens.

“We have already put internal mechanisms in place to ensure that justice is served in this matter and you will see it done.”

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