“Late Vendor Could Have Been More Than Speaker” – Colleague Tells Gbaja |The Source

By Adesina Soyooye

Ejike Ebirimnwa, a colleague of the late Abuja Newspaper Vendor, Ifeanyi Okereke, said he could have been bigger than Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Ebirimnwa spoke during a condolence visit/ meeting Gbajabiamila held with Abuja Newspaper Vendors and Distributors on Sunday.

A security personnel, attached to the Speaker, had accidentally shot dead Okereke, allegedly, when he shot in the air to disperse people who the Speaker said tried to block his convoy. Speaker Gbajabiamila said he had stopped, as he had done, atimes, over the years, to exchange greetings with the Vendors when the tragic incident happened.

The Vendors and Newspaper Distributors had, on Friday, staged a peaceful protest in Abuja over Okereke’s killing, asking for justice.

During the meeting with them, a  clearly pained Speaker told them he had visited Okereke’s family and would take care of his family, and the two children he left behind.

The youngest of the two is nine days old, but the Speaker said he would take care of them till they turn 21 years. In that regard, the Speaker said he would set-up a Trust Fund for Okereke’s family.

He, also, said the House of Representatives would honour the late Vendor at Plenary on Tuesday.

But speaking at the occasion, one of  Okereke’s colleagues, Ebirimnwa, expressed shock at the manner his life was cut short, saying he was all set to start work as a civil servant in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity before he was killed.

His words: He was a boy of 28 years. He had not less than one hundred and something years to live more. You don’t know who he would have become. He could be more be more than the Speaker. He just got employment as a civil servant in the Federal Ministry of Labour. He was waiting for capturing before he was gunned down by a trigger-happy personnel.”

Okereke’s death has caused outrage across the country, with some groups asking  Speaker Gbajabiamila to take responsibility for the fatal shot.

The Speaker has already disengaged the culprit from his convoy, and handed him over to the DSS for investigation.