Vendor’s Death: Gbajabiamila To Pay N500m As Family Threatens Legal Action

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, may be forced to cough up N500 million in compensation to the family of a newspaper vendor allegedly shot to death by his security aide last week Thursday.

The family of the deceased, Ifeanyi Okereke, has reportedly written to the Speaker to demand the said sum as compensation for their loss.

Okereke’s family wrote to Gbajabiamila through their lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN),on Monday, reports Punch.

Their demand for compensation is coming after the Speaker personally visited the deceased’s wife and three-week-old baby at their residence on Sunday.

Ozekhome said the deceased’s father, Okorie Okereke, and younger brother, Destiny Okereke, mandated him to write the letter to Gbajabiamila.

“Our clients have instructed us to make from your good self, the following modest demands: That you use your good offices to ensure the immediate prosecution of your security aide (Abdullahi Hassan), who went on a frolic of his own, clearly acted outside the purview of his duty and responsibility by shooting to death an innocent, harmless and armless citizen.

“That you adequately compensate the Okereke family with a modest sum of N500m only. This monetary demand can never adequately replace or take the place of their son, husband, brother, and breadwinner’s life. But it will at least mitigate the obvious trauma and hardship the premature demise of their irreplaceable breadwinner has placed on them.”

The family further threatened to take legal action against the Speaker should he fail to act on their demand within seven days.

“Take note therefore that it is our clients’ firm instruction that in the event that you fail, refuse and/or neglect to accede to or proffer reasonable compensatory terms to our above modest demands within seven days from the date of this letter, we shall without any further correspondences from us, take appropriate legal steps to enforce our clients’ constitutional rights,” the letter read.

THE WHISTLER reported earlier that Gbajabiamila had revealed the identity of the his security aide that shot Okereke as one Abdullahi M. Hassan, an operative of the Department of State Services (DSS).

The Speaker had also vowed to help the deceased’s family get justice, while also promising to take care of the family left behind.