'End SARS' Protest Claims Four Lives In Imo State

The ragging 'End SARS' Nationwide protest have claimed four lives in Imo state as the protest turned violent Wednesday.

According to an eye witness account, the protesting youths marched to the Divisional police station (DPS), Nwaorubi, set it ablaze and marched to the Mbaitoli Local Government secretariat and also set part of it ablaze likewise the Orji police station in OWERRI North local Government area which was also burnt down.

The eye witness further stated that those suspected to have fallen victim are security personnel on duty at the time of the protest

It stated that two of the security personnel were killed at Njaba local Government Area while the other two were attacked at a check point at Ubommiri town in Mbaitoli local government area of the state

However most of protesters said when accosted that their protest is not only calling for total reform of the Nigeria Police but also against bad governance by the present federal government of Nigeria

” look at Nigeria as a country, you will see gross imbalance as is evidenced by the lopsidedness in appointments and also lack of job opportunities for us, particularly those of in the south East geo political zone of the country”

They further said ‘ you can also agree with us that the present administration in the country has witnessed more police brutality and maiming of Nigerian youths than the previous administrations in the country

The protesting youths who marched towards OWERRI the state capital without minding the curfew imposed by the state government insisted that they will not relent until president Buhari addresses their complaints

According to them, ” how can a serving president of country keep mute while his country burns”

They said further, ” bad governance led to police brutality of innocent citizens and that brought us to where we are today“

” we the youths are tired of sectionalism, nepotism and tribalism in this country this is a country of more than forty million people and very few people take over all job opportunities ” they added

However the police public relations officer, Mr Orlando Ikeokwu could not be reached as at the time of filing this report

Meanwhile the state Governor Senator Hope Uzodinma today set up a panel of enquiry into the reported cases of brutality and extra judicial killings against the disbanded SARS

According to the Governor the panel is also mandated to look in to all other human right abuses reported against the police.