The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, has condemned the killing of two police officers in Aba, describing it as cruel and promising to compensate the families of the slain cops.
The governor also described the reprisal by the police as lawless.
Recall that two police officers were killed during an attack on the convoy of the state Commissioner for Commerce, Trade and Investment, Dr.Chimezie Ukaegbu, in Aba on Wednesday.
In reaction, the police, on Thursday, went on reprisal, attacking innocent persons.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, quoted Otti, in a statement on Thursday, as condemning the attacks.
Otti said his government viewed the attack on the innocent police officers by yet-to-be-identified gunmen as “cruel, unjust and highly provocative and should be condemned by all men and women of good conscience and on behalf of Abia State government.”
He also described as the reprisal by policemen as “lawless and counterproductive, since such victims have not been proven to be directly or indirectly involved in the attack that led to the death of those two police officers.”
“The governor, on getting to know about the reprisal on Thursday, immediately got the police authorities to withdraw the officers from the affected areas which paved the way for the return of peace and normalcy in the area,” the statement said.
Otti gave the assurance that “his government would do everything within its powers to ensure that the killers of the policemen and their sponsors were brought to justice while those police officers who took the laws into their hands by brutalising innocent citizens and destroying people’s property are also made to face the law. He insisted that two wrongs can never make a right.”
The governor also promised to ensure that adequate compensation was paid to the families of the slain officers and to the innocent citizens who were brutalised and their property destroyed.
