Bereaved Mothers At Rivers Panel: Police Killed Our Sons Because They Stopped Crude Oil Tank

Three widows, Leebabari Cornelius, Love Lebari and Nunkeeree Baah all of Luebe in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State have asked the Rivers State Judicial Panel of Enquiry into police brutalities to compensate and give them the corpses of their sons allegedly killed by operatives of the defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad(SARS) when the boys, who worked as local vigilantes tried to stop a crude oil tank the officers were leading.

Their sons, namely: Bariledum Cornelius, Neebee Baah and Ewonubari Leebari, were allegedly shot by men of the defunct SARS.

The mothers of the three men on Thursday asked the panel of inquiry to prevail on the police authorities to release their corpses to them for proper burial.

The mothers, who were present at the sitting of the panel at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre, also narrated how they lost their sons.

The widows said: “Our sons were aged 16, 17 and 21 respectively when the incident happened on November 8th 2017.

“The trouble started when the local guards guarding our community among which were boys intercepted the said SARS officers who were not on uniform to inquire their identity as they were seen leading a tank of crude oil across the community at about 7pm.

“Upon the inquiry, the armed officers shot sporadically at the local guards and the young men were part of the guards hit by their bullets.

“After killing them, they allegedly took their corpses away without our knowledge as their parents and families till date, none of us have seen them.”