Boy, 22 Allegedly Shot By Trigger-happy Soldier In Critical Condition

A twenty-two year old boy, Precious Udoku who was allegedly shot and injured by a trigger-happy soldier in Ekpan, Delta State, is currently in critical condition.

BIGPENNGR.COM understands the teenager who was first hospitalized at Central Hospital in Warri after he was allegedly shot by Soldiers at Ekpan Community in Warri South Local Government Area of the State, has been referred to the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara for further medical treatments.

A family source said that the boy’s condition may deteriorate and he may die if proper medical treatment is not administered on him, as his mother is said to have run out of the meagre cash she has to take care of the son.

Trouble was said to have started when the unidentified soldiers shot the victim on the leg while chasing some community members of Okere-Urhobo Community (Okumagba axis) over a disrepute that erupted in the area following a controversial youth leadership election.

It was gathered that a communal crisis had broke out with regards to the youth chairmanship position in the community after a Politician (name withheld) reportedly imposed one Eyikpimi on the people but was resisted by a section of the elders.

Local sources claimed that the said politician and some other persons in the Community later went behind the door to hold an election without the consent of the heads of family and elders in Okere-Urhobo Kingdom.

The politician’s candidate was later controversially elected and was sworn-in as the youth chairman.

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Sources said that weeks later, the newly elected youth chairman stormed the community with soldiers who reportedly commissioned to him by the politician and started ‘terrorizing’ every persons he perceived as opposition to his emergence.

In an ensuing encounter, the soldiers were said to have chased some of the perceived opponent of the youth leader to neighbouring Ekpan Community where they shot the victim who was a passerby at the time.

Narrating how he was reportedly shot during the melee, in his hospital bed, the victim said that he had gone to meet his friends in the area to lend him transportation fare to enable him travel but  “as people were running, soldiers got to where I was standing and shot my leg. I was carrying my travelling bag at that time”, he added.

The Coordinator of the Warri Civil Rights Council, Amb.(Comrade) Lucky Idiri who corroborated the claims of the victim said, “He was not carrying any weapon or any arm. He is not from Okere-Urhobo. He does not reside there.”

Amb. Idiri condemned the dastard act by the soldiers saying, “Soldiers don’t have right to shoot harmless citizen. If we allow such brutality to take place, they will kill people anyhow. That’s why we are here to defend the vulnerable.”

Idiri who also confirmed that the Central Hospital, Warri has referred the victim to the Delta State University Teaching Hospital for better medical treatments said the mother is planning to abandon the boy with his father at Ughelli.

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According to him, “So doing, the boy might die if care is not taken. We are calling on the international community to come to the aid of this young man and help save his life. We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai to fish out and prosecute the soldiers involved in this dastard act in the interest of Justice.”