The Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, on Friday condemned the shooting of protesting students of the state polytechnic by police officers deployed to the institution’s campus in Aba.
The students were protesting the alleged sexual assault of a female student of the polytechnic by some policemen attached to the Eziama Police Division, Aba, and the non-accreditation of courses by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) when some trigger-happy police officers opened fire on them on Thursday.
Ikpeazu, who reacted to the incident in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Sir Onyebuchi Omemanka in Umuahia, described the behaviour of the police officers as excessive.
He said: “Shooting at unarmed students who were protesting the alleged sexual assault of one of them by a police officer is against all known and recognised rules of engagement by law enforcement officers who could have employed other means other than deadly force to disperse the protesting students.”
He assured that the state government was investigating the issues that led to the protest, saying the use of deadly force on the students was completely unacceptable and condemnable.
The governor charged the state’s Commissioner of Police, Janet Agbade, and the Area Commander in charge of Aba to fish out the officers involved in the incident and discipline them in line with extant Police Regulations.
