Delta: Security agents open fire on residents protesting ceaseless kidnappings

Delta map

Security agents allegedly opened fire on unarmed residents protesting the never-ending kidnapping in Abraka community, Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, yesterday.

Vanguard learned that nobody was shot dead, but a protester sustained an injury on his face, with blood spouting.
The protesters ran for safety as shots rented the air, with security agents advancing further to take over the protest venue.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Bright Edafe, who confirmed that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Olufemi Abaniwonda, had directed the Area Commander to handle the situation, stated that the Area Commander had dealt with the matter and the protesters had dispersed.

“It was later that we heard that somebody was shot, and until this moment, nobody has been able to take the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, to the person they claimed was shot so that we can see the person,” he said.

Responding to the reporter, who interjected that eyewitnesses said one person was shot and injured, the PPRO said, “If they said somebody was shot, they should be able to give us a name and location.”

Residents of Abraka have embarked on daily protests over the alarming rate of abduction in the university town since last week.

They were angry that the police in the Abraka Division were not confronting the kidnappers, which gave the abductors the nerve to abduct people at will.

Students of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, who gave the Commissioner of Police in the state a 72-hour ultimatum to tame the rampaging abductors on May 29, warned they would join the residents in the daily protests, yesterday.A source said the students mobilised and joined the residents at a popular junction in the community where the people gathered daily with placards to call attention of the state government and security agents to their predicaments in the hands of kidnappers.