Army Denies Involvement In Death Of Aba Motorcyclist

The Nigerian Army has denied having a hand in the death of a commercial motorcyclist, Chimaobi Nwogu, at Umuokereke Ngwa community near Aba in Abia State.

This was according to the Abia Police Command which stated this in a statement on Thursday.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, said Nwogu’s family reported that the deceased was killed at a military checkpoint at Ohanze in Obingwa LGA for refusing to give N100 bribe.

The deceased family was said to have reported the incident at the Eastern Ngwa Police Division.

Ogbonna, in the statement, said the Army denied involvement in Nwogu’s death, but noted that the police was investigating the matter.

“The army said it is not their soldier that killed Chimaobi, that it may be a cultist, who was wearing an army T-shirt,” he said.

According to him, “a team has been set up to look into that matter and it is after the investigation that the perpetrator of that act will be unravelled.”

Ogbonna added that youths in the community had staged a protest during which they carried the deceased’s corpse around the area.

The police spokesperson said the police intercepted the youths, retrieved the corpse and deposited it in a mortuary.

Narrating how Nwogu was allegedly killed to newsmen, a relation, Chinonyerem Nwala, said, “We saw a soldier pursuing Chimaobi but we were still wondering what may have happened when he shot him and he fell on the ground from his motorcycle.

“Immediately after shooting him, the soldier climbed on his motorcycle and ran away,” said Nwala.