By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN CITY—OGHARA and family of the deceased chairman of the town’s vigilante group, Mr Benson Ogedegbe, who was allegedly killed by an army officer attached to the 19 Battalion, Koko, yesterday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to set up an independent panel of inquiry to investigate his alleged killing, illegal arrest, intimidation and militarization of the community by the Nigerian Army.

Widow of the deceased, Mrs Endurance Ogedegbe, in a press conference in Benin City, said her husband was shot in her presence and pleaded with President Buhari to investigate the matter and fish out the soldiers involved in the dastardly act.

However, spokesman of the Army in the 4 Brigade, Benin, Captain J.E.Unuakhalu, said none of the families of the deceased was in their custody after last Tuesday’s protest.

“We don’t want to join issues with the family until the ongoing investigation into the killing of Mr Ogedegbe by the Army is concluded. And we are not intimidating anybody in the community, people are moving freely,” he said.

Meanwhile, a frontline Niger Delta activist and chairman of Oghara Center for Justice and Development, Rev. David Ugolor, told journalists that their plea to the Presidency became inevitable, following the ceaseless arrest and intimidation of the people of Oghara Kingdom due to their agitation that the 19 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Koko, under the command of Lt Col.Aminu Umar, produced the killer of their kinsman.

Ugolor vowed that the people of Oghara would not be “cowed, intimidated or harassed into allowing the kingdom to be used as a domain for criminals or ground for criminal activities.

He said: ‘’We condemn the action of the soldiers of 19 Battalion Nigerian Army Koko for killing our son without the due process of law.

“Now that the men of the Nigerian Army Koko have taken it upon themselves to militarise Oghara and stifle all forms of expression and opposition to the reign of terror and bloodshed which they are perpetrating at

Oghara and its environs, we have decided to take our protest and demonstrations over the extra-judicial killing of Comrade Ogedengbe to Asaba where we can engage the relevant authorities.

“Should we be denied the right to do this, we will proceed to Abuja, if possible, to let the whole world know the grave injustice, pain and tears that Oghara, the family of Benson Ogedegbe have been exposed to by the excesses of men of the 19 Battalion Nigerian Army, Koko.

“We, therefore, demand that President Buhari constitute an independent panel of inquiry to investigate the activities of 19 Battalion under the leadership of Lt Col.Aminu Umar over the extra-judicial killing of Ogedegbe, the arrest and torture of peaceful protesters and the militarization of Oghara.