Burial Ceremony Turns Bloody As Mourning Youths, Security Operatives Clash In Nkpolu
There was a bloody clash early Tuesday morning between Nkpolu-Rumuigbo youths and security operatives while the youth were reportedly on their way from the mortuary with the remains of one of their own, late Aleruchi Woko killed in September last year in a controversial circumstance during a youth protest over the parlous state of the East-West Road in their community.
There were conflicting accounts as to the actual cause of the clash and the number of causalities.
While police sources claimed there were no lives lost, some youths of the community said not fewer than four persons were killed and many injured.
Some youths who spoke to National Network reporter claimed the police opened fire on the mourning youths unprovoked along Rumuosi on their way to the deseased’s family contrary to police claim.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the State Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni denied that anybody was killed during the fracas.
He however, disclosed that intelligence report had revealed impending danger as a result of plans by certain persons to cash in on the burial ceremony to cause breach of law and order in the community which informed the decision to deploy security operatives to the area.
According to the police source, rather than conduct themselves lawfully, the youths resorted to breaking into people’s shops, robbing them and disrupting free flow of traffic.
“Our men only moved in, to maintain law and order”, the PPRO declared, and urged the public to discountenance the false claim of shooting at innocent persons.
This account however runs counter to the position of the Nkpolu-Rumiogbo Youths who insisted the attack was unwarranted, exonerating themselves of any blame.
Among those injured, they claimed was their Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman, Mr. Achinike Orueuogwu who according to them is receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in Port Harcourt.
