The police in Enugu State have showed that operatives of the Anti-Cultism Segment of the Violent Crime Reaction Unit certainly shot a well-liked entertainer, Izuchukwu Nnaji, all through an operation within the state.
The police spokesperson within the state, Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed this in a observation on Friday.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that loads of offended youths, on Thursday, protested the killing of Mr Nnaji, popularly referred to as Stone, allegedly by way of the operatives.
This newspaper additionally reported that the overdue Nnaji was once arrested at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday at The Bull Lodge in Enugu the place he had lodged after celebrating his birthday with pals on Tuesday night time.
However his frame was once later came upon on the morgue of the Enugu State College Educating Health center, Parklane, on Thursday, which precipitated the youths to start out the protest.
The capturing of Nnaji
Within the Friday observation, Mr Ndukwe, a superintendent of police, stated that initial findings indicated that the operatives raided the Bull Lodge following a tip-off.
The spokesperson steered that the operatives raided the resort as a result of a suspected infamous drug peddler and Vikings Confraternity member, Nworie Chidera Kelvin, another way referred to as “Akidi” lodged there along with his friends.
He claimed that “Akidi” was once related to a couple of circumstances involving illegal firearm ownership and cultism, together with one wherein he was once charged in absentia.
“He (Akidi) was once additionally suspected of preserving the crowd’s firearms and different prison gear.
“The operation resulted in the arrest of Akidi and 9 different suspects, comprising women and men elderly 17 to twenty-eight.
“Amounts of dried weeds suspected to be ‘loud’ hashish, a weighing scale suspected for use for measuring illicit medicine, and ₦43,400 in quite a lot of denominations have been recovered,” he stated.
Mr Ndukwe additional claimed that, all through the raid on the resort, Mr Nnaji and some other unnamed suspect jumped thru a window in an try to get away.
“Whilst pursuing them, an operative was once faced by way of each suspects, who allegedly tried to disarm him.
“Within the resulting combat, the firearm discharged, leaving Nnaji with gunshot accidents, whilst the opposite suspect escaped.
“Nnaji was once rushed to sanatorium, the place he was once later showed lifeless. His stays were deposited in a mortuary for preservation and post-mortem,” he narrated.
Investigation
The spokesperson, alternatively, stated the Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Bitrus Giwa, has ordered “a radical investigation” into the cases surrounding the dying of Mr Nnaji all through the operation.
He stated the commissioner has directed the assistant commissioner of police in command of the State Intelligence Division to ascertain the information of the incident and decide whether or not the operation and use of firearms complied with established operational requirements and extant regulations.
‘Stay calm’
Mr Ndukwe stated the police commissioner has prompt Mr Nnaji’s circle of relatives and colleagues to “stay calm.”
The police leader, consistent with the observation, confident them that the cases surrounding the incident could be completely investigated and that any officer discovered culpable would face suitable disciplinary motion.
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He reiterated that professionalism, moral behavior and strict adherence to operational requirements, in particular the ones governing the usage of firearms, will have to by no means be compromised in any police operation.
Now not the primary time
PREMIUM TIMES recollects that the newest incident befell about 18 months after a police inspector killed a well-liked musician, Chikezie Mba, in Enugu State.
Mr Mba, popularly referred to as ‘Igbo Jah,’ was once shot lifeless by way of the inspector on the Anti-Cult Unit of the Enugu State Police Command in October 2024.
The police government later identified the inspector as Joseph Ozonwanji, dismissed and arraigned him for killing the musician.
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