Naval officers kill man in Ondo, family seeks justice

The family of Omosebine Efotan has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly, the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-EteEkwe and the police to investigate the killing of their son, Efotan who was allegedly killed by some naval officers.Efotan, 26, was killed by a stray bullet when officers of the Nigerian Navy, Orioke-Iwamimo Command Unit stormed   Abe-Oroyo, a riverine community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State on August 2, 2016.The officers were said to have been hired by a member of the community and petroleum dealer, identified as Kehinde  Egbayelo to invade the community in order to forcefully recover N20,000 debt owed him by one Mr. Ebune  Iroaye. But they (the naval officers) were said to have met the debtor absent.A source said the naval officer and their ”˜client’ were angry when  they  didn’t  meet    the debtor at home, so the officers began to shoot sporadically into the air and the stray bullets hit the deceased, who was sitting in his mechanic workshop on the fateful day.The spokesman of the deceased’s family, Mr. Adeolu Efotan, told  our correspondent on Tuesday that the incident had been reported at Igbokoda Police Station and the homicide section of the Ondo State Police Command Headquarters, Akure but nothing had come out of it.According to him, the Navy unit, in an alleged bid to cover up the incident, went back to the community with two Navy gunboats on August 6, 2016 and threatened the traditional ruler of the town, Chief Adolphus Efotan, to allow settlement of the matter.The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Ayemafuge mortuary, Igbokoda.In a shocking statement, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph,who confirmed the incident, said the navy would have to hand over the case to the police before it can be investigated.He said, “The incident actually happened but the navy has not handed the case to us, I think they too must have been doing their own private investigation.“We will start our own investigation as soon as they hand over the case to us. But for now, we have  yet to get the case from them. “However, effort to reach the commander in charge Forward Operational Base of the Nigerian Navy, Igbokoda, Navy Captain Nnabuchi Aniaku, was unsuccessful, as his telephone line was switched off when a call was put across to him at the time of filing this report.