Wisdom was shot dead on Saturday at about 1am. He was in front of the bakery on John Igbi Street, close to the Swali Market, when a long-range bullet hit him and he died on the spot.
The bullet that killed Wisdom from Ikot Osute in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State was suspected to have been fired from a base of the Nigeria Air Force located close to the bakery.
It was alleged that an officer of NAF pulled the trigger from a sentry box in the base. Though Wisdom was standing some metres away from the base, his killer was suspected to have used a sniper’s riffle with a silencer to fire the shot. The bullet pierced through the right corner of his head, close to his ear and was lodged in his brains. The young man, according to a source, died without writhing or shouting.
Although NAF has vehemently denied that its officer pulled the trigger, some witnesses said the circumstances that led to the killing of Wisdom seemed to have indicted the force. Wisdom and some other workers were outside to receive a patrol team of policemen who came from ‘A’ Division to respond to a distress call when the incident occurred.
The owner of the bakery, Mrs. Emmanuelle Izuegbunam, told PUNCH METRO that there was an attempted robbery at the bakery on the night that Wisdom was killed. She said the robbers tried to gain entry into the bakery by scaling a gate.
“When they could not bend the protector, they started pulling the gate to force it open. It was then that I called my husband who had travelled. He advised us to remain inside. Shortly after that a patrol vehicle of the police arrived at the scene and the policemen fired three gunshots into the air. On noticing that the police were around our premises, we opened the gate and some of us including Wisdom came out,” she said.
She said Wisdom was standing beside the policemen when another gunshot was fired. “Immediately we heard the gunshot, we ran away. Those of us from the bakery ran inside while the police took cover. We were inside for about one hour. We checked to know whether all employees were on the premises but discovered that Wisdom was missing,” she said.
PUNCH METRO learnt that it was at this point that the operatives of the special police squad codenamed Famou Tangbei and some officers of NAF arrived the scene. The commander of Famou Tangbei was said to have sighted a lifeless body and mistook him to be one of the robbers.
But the policemen were said to have emerged from their hideouts to inform the commander that the victim was not an armed robber. It was gathered that the security officials persuaded Izuegbunam and other workers to open the gate.
“When we opened the gate we saw a body lying down. We looked at the boxers and identified them as Wisdom’s. We then turned the body and discovered that it was Wisdom. Then we started screaming,” Izuegbuanam said.
Izuegbunam, however, said the confusion caused by the gunshot made it impossible for anyone to know its direction. “We were confused because we did not expect a gunshot while we were standing with the police,” she said.
Reacting to the development, NAF’s spokesman, Mr. Bi Okon, denied the allegation, saying no officer of the force fired the bullet. He asked the police to carry out forensic examination of the deceased to determine how he was killed.
“Investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances leading to the death of the late baker by the relevant authorities. The report, which alleged that shots were heard from the direction of the air force base, is misleading,” he said.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Eguaveon Emokpai, confirmed the incident.
“It is true that a young man was gunned down around Swali area, but I don’t have details now. We are conducting investigation into the matter,” he added.
PUNCH METRO learnt that the corpse of Wisdom has been deposited at the mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.
SOURCE: Punch