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I want justice for my husband not N500m – wife of vendor killed by DSS agent
BY PAUL SILAS
Wife of the Abuja newspaper vendor killed by a security detail attached to the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has dissociated herself from the N500 million compensation demand on the Speaker by her husband’s family.
Mrs Josephine Okereke told newsmen on Thursday, in Abuja, that she was not privy to the demand letter served on Gbajabiamila to settle the family with N500 million.
She said what was paramount to her was how to get justice for her late husband, Ifeanyichukwu.
In a letter dated November 23, 2020, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), said he had the mandate of the father of the deceased, Okorie Okereke; and the younger brother to the deceased, Destiny Okereke to demand “a modest sum of N500m only” from the Speaker, to compensate the Okereke family for their loss.
The letter also stated that failure to comply with the N500 million demand within seven days would lead to legal action against the Speaker.
Mrs Okereke however said that the Speaker had since reached out to the family with a promise to take care of the children.
“Gbajabiamila carried my new born child when he came to our house and said he was not a speaker when he knew my husband,” she stated.
The widow said that what she needed at the moment is justice and not N500 million, stressing that she will never be in support of the N500 million compensation.
According to Josephine, the speaker had done what was unexpected of someone in authority with a promise to take care of the children education and other needs.
READ: Family demands N500m from Gbajabiamila over vendor’s death
“I was in my house when within 10 minutes my father in-law came from Abia, he went out along with his other son, and the next day, I heard that my husband’s people are demanding N500 million as compensation.
“I was shocked and asked how will they be doing that and how will the speaker help the children again with such demand.
“All I want now is that the person that killed my husband to face justice, he was the breadwinner of the family and he just secured a job with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
“But COVID-19 prevented him from resuming. It was the Minister, Dr Chris Ngige, that helped him secure the job, but since COVID-19 prevented him from resuming, he went back to vendor so as to eke a living,” she narrated.
The 36-year-old mother of two, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said she was also a vendor when she met Ifeanyichukwu in 2013 and the union had since produced two children.
The vendor was shot in the head on November 19, by a security detail attached to Gbajabiamila when the speaker’s convoy passed through the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.
Mr Wilfred Okoye, the Legal Adviser to Newspaper Association of Abuja (NPA), had condemned the death of Okereke by the security aide, Abdullahi Hassan.
In an emotion laden voice, he said Okereke’s death was most painful, adding that the NPA was pained by the gruesome murder of the late vendor. He called for justice for the bereaved family to serve as deterrent to other security details.
Okoye commended Speaker Gbajabiamila for the role he had played so far in assuaging the feelings of the family, expressing confidence that the Department of State Security that deployed Hassan to the speaker will do the needful.
“I have not seen such empathy by people in authority in my 12 years of legal practice, the Speaker should not be discouraged, he should put up the trust fund quickly to secure a future for the children,” said the lawyer.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take immediate steps that would address overzealousness among security operatives in the country.