Police’s Stray Bullets Injure Four at Funeral Ceremony

By Augustine Akpan and KoKo Robson

Adding salt into injury, tears pains and sorrows obviously synonymous to burial event were further compounded in a funeral ceremony of late Helen Nathaniel held in her family compound at Ikot Ebidang, Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State last Saturday when four men attending the event were caught by stray bullets on the heels of the fracas that broke out in the event.

The sad incident occurred at the close of the funeral proceedings, when a group of sympathizers who attended the event by a chartered bus returned to book their places only to discover a strange face that was not part of the trip also struggling for a place in the bus. When one of the legitimate members of the trip asked out the intruder from the vehicle to pave way for those that travelled with the bus to return safely yielded no fruit than disagreement and show of effrontery, prompting the Policeman present at the event to step in to calm the situation. 

In an attempt to cool the tension and anxiety by the Police, a scuffle ensued as the trouble-intoxicated man who was the ‘Jonah in the bus’, caused a scene as he stepped out of the bus and handed the policeman a dirty slap invoking the wrath of other policemen who descended pretty well on the stubborn man.

According to an eye witness who preferred anonymity, seeing the policemen beating up the heady man mercilessly, the crowd were moved to rescue the man from the hands of the furious policemen to avoid the unexpected. In order to calm the fracas and have control of the audience, one of the policemen (name withheld) opened fire in the air to scare away the contending audience but was pushed away and thrown off balance and his firearm fell from his hand to the ground discharging the already triggered fire arm sporadically into the audience injuring four men.

The bullet caught one of the policemen on the belly, hit the stubborn man known as Godwin Noah who caused the problem in the leg and left other two people injured.

Moreover, when the Officer in Charge (OC) of the Divisional Headquarters, Onna was contacted, he admitted knowledge of the incident but declined comment stating that the policemen involved were not his men and referred  The Waves reporter to the Police State Headquarters at Ikot Akpan Abia where we were yet to establish contact with the Police Public Relations Officer to clarify the state of things at the time of going to press.