Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government area, Solomon Eke has denied that his security details pulled the triggered on the protester who died at Nkpolu community.
Eke in an interview put the blame on security agencies especially the Nigerian Army whom he claimed, “were shooting at the youths”.
He expressed displeasure over what played out during the protest, adding that he only went to the scene of the protest to play his role as the Chief Security Officer of the Local government.
However, indigenes of the community blamed the police for the killing.
The indigenes were protesting against the bad state of the road caused by persistent flooding.
Four people were also reported injured during the fracas with properties, including a building and petrol tankers destroyed by angry youths in the area in reaction to the death of one of them.
However, Rivers State Police Command said 15 persons were arrested following the violent protest.
Nnamdi Omoni said the report of the death of one of the protesters was yet to be ascertained.
According to him, the protesters violently attacked some security agents who were enroute Bayelsa State.
He noted that normalcy has been restored to the scene with the deployment of an Area Commander and a detachment of personnel.
In his reaction, spokesman of 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, dismissed the claim that anybody was killed by soldiers.
According to Iliyasu, “It is cheap blackmail to say that soldiers killed anybody. They smashed the windscreens of our vehicles, including that of the escort. The mob threw stones and other objects at them.
“For them to extricate themselves and because of the blockade, the Soldiers had to turn back to base. In this era of social media, if somebody was killed, you would have seen it all over the social media.”
