Aide to the speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly shot dead

By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi

Information reaching TPCN reveals that an aide of the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ikuinyi Owaji-Ibani, has been felled by unknown gunmen at Igbo Etche, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.

TPCN gathered that the deceased, known as Michael Ebirien Agana, was working with the Speaker but lived with his family in Igbo Etche where he built a house. He was shot on Friday night.

A source said he was shot on the head by gunmen whose identity were not known, adding that initially, people thought it was a stray bullet but later discovered that there was no sporadic shooting in the area that would cause stray bullet to fly around.

When asked if the deceased was having any quarrel or fight with anybody around the area, the source, who said the late Michael hailed from Andoni –where the Rivers Speaker also hails from – said he did not know if he had any quarrel with anybody.

“We’re all surprised to hear of his death. He was a young man that was doing well, especially since he started working with Speaker. In short am surprised. I even thought it was a stray bullet but when I asked, people said there was no shooting there that night,” said the source who also said he is from Andoni.

TPCN could not reach the spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni, at the time of filing in this report although checks are still ongoing.

While reacting to the report, an aide to speaker told TPCN that the deceased was not an aide to the speaker but a man who found favour in his eyes.

According the speaker’s aide on oil and gas, Peace Adango, Mike Ebirien Agana never directly worked for the speaker but worked at the Andoni local government council.