Anita Ogona
Akwa/Ibom community on Friday 23rd August,2024 defy the heavy downpour to protest the death of twenty -three year old Asher Christopher Dan who died inside the premises of Nigeria National Petroleum Company(NNPC) Moscow road,Portharcourt Rivers state on Tuesday ,20th August,2024 in an unclear circumstance .
The Protesters with different incripstions like ‘we want explanation on Asher’s death’, ‘who killed Asher’,first matched to the gate of Rivers State Police Command headquarters at Moscow,where the family,representatives of the group were invited for a meeting with top senior Police officers.
Our correspondent gathered that after the group met with the ranking Police officers,the protesters were told that the matter has been transferred to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department(SCIID).
The protesters later matched to the NNPC headquarters where they sealed the gates with native palm front and the picture of the deceased placed at the gates before leaving to State CIiD.
Our correspondent who monitored the protest disclosed that no official of the company came out to address the protesters.
In an interview with Journalists,King Albert,the event coordinator of Akwa/Ibom community in Rivers state said “regarding to the subject matter,our boy Asher Dan Christopher came to work on the 20th of this month(August) only for us to get information that an incident that occured as at 10am in the morning, we got information by 4pm that the young man fell from this upstair,this storey building and died.
“But the same people are telling us that they were not there present when the incident happened,wee saw the clothes of this young man at fourth 4th floor while they are telling us that he fell from 8th floor.
“Now this people in question uptill date seize the corpse of the young man, refusing the family and the entire community of Akwa/Ibom people to see the corpse of this young man.
“So we are calling on the Commissioner of Police,the Rivers state Government,all respected individuals of this state to come into this matter because it is a matter of Akwa/Ibom state and Rivers state.
“And is very important because the Akwa/Ibom state Government is aware of this and they will definitely come into this matter.
“We need justice,we need an autopsy,we need to see the corpse of this young man,because they are telling us they will not allow us access to the corpse of this young man for fourteen days so that they we have access to do what they want to do.
“We need justice for Asher Christopher Dan”.
Recall that on Thursday 22nd August 2024 the Christopher Dan, father told Journalists in an interview that he was yet to see the corpse of his son .
The spokesperson for the Rivers State, Superintendent of Police(SP) Grace Iringe Koko had earlier confirmed the incident while adding that investigation is ongoing.
Credits:Revelation agents
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