- Azia General Assembly PG petitions IGP to probe police murder of daughter
- Says Chidimma Ezeanochie shot dead without provocation
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A family in the South East has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, to investigate the death of its daughter, Chidimma Ezeanochie, who was killed by police officers on Thursday, November 25.
Chidimma, aged 20, who hailed from Umudansu village of Azia, in Ihiala local Government Area of Anambra State, was shot along with her brother when they were running an errand for their mother.
Azia General Assembly President General, Dr. Nwabueze Tonna, wrote the petition on behalf of the family and the community.
The petition titled, “Gruesome murder of Miss Chidinmma Ezeanochie by policemen of Special Unit deployed from Awka to Orsumoghu on 25th November 2021,” was sent to Baba at Force Headquarters in Abuja, through Anambra State Commissioner of Police and Force Headquarters Public Relations Officer, Abuja.
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Tonna recounted that Chidimma and her brother aged 14 were sent by their mother at about 5pm on November 25 to buy bags of sachet water from a shop at Ogwumabiri, located on Orsumoghu-Azia road where she was killed by “policemen driving through Azia from Orsumoghu.”
He said both were “shot at, at close range by one of the men of this special unit inside an armoured vehicle. Fortunately, the brother was spared but the bullet scattered our daughter’s head with the brain matters on the ground. She died instantly.
“It’s quite unimaginable because there was no form of provocation that could be linked to this. About 100 metres from the site of this incident, they equally opened fire on a packed Sienna space bus by a block industry.
“We contacted the area commander on this, he told us that the police men are special unit from Awka deployed to Orsumoghu against the IPOB boys.
“Azia is totally different from Orsumoghu geographically and we are a very peaceful town. There was neither history of unrest nor hiding of criminal elements in our town.
“This murder is gruesome, wicked and totally unacceptable by the community. Presently her body is deposited at Osungwu memorial hospital mortuary, Okija.
“We humbly demand for justice from your good offices on the murder of our daughter, little Miss Chidimma Ezeanochi.”
A community leader who spoke to TheNiche said the mother of the murdered girl who was sick simply sent her daughter to go and buy pure water with which to drink her medicine.
“You can imagine the distance. Very short distance from the house. She went with her younger brother and police who were driving past were just shooting sporadically, without any provocation and one of the bullets hit the poor girl on the head and killed her instantly.
“How can this be. What crime did this poor girl commit? Is she also a member of IPOB? No human being deserves to die this way. Why is Alaigbo under this kind of siege?” the man who didn’t want his name mentioned queried.
Meanwhile, Azia youths have taken to the streets protesting the gruesome murder of Chidimma.
Carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “We need justice on the killing of our daughter,” “Azia needs justice on the killing our daughter,” the youths who protested at the Azia Police Station said they were proceeding to Ihialla.
“If the police want to kill all of us, let them come. We are ready to die. This thing is getting out of hand,” they said as they chanted that they don’t want the presence of police in Azia any longer.
They vowed not to stop until justice is done.