• Father of man allegedly shot by army sergeant cries out

By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT: “I want justice to be done on this matter. My son was murdered in cold blood. Whoever did this must face the law, justice must be done. The soldier whom I understand is a Sergeant, Ismaila Adediran must face justice. This is what will satisfy my family”.

These were the words of Mr Henry Akangbou as he told the story of how his only son, Donbraye Akangbou was allegedly murdered on December 11 2013 by a soldier attached to a construction company in Port Harcourt.
Mr Akangbou   sighed at a point and shook his head as he spoke to the Vanguard Metro, VM. “My son was 33years old.   He was a gentle man. He wedded in June last year and the wife is pregnant.”

Again he paused, tapped his right toe on the floor in his sitting room. Everyone, in the living room with him felt the pain in his heart and the huge sense of loss in his voice as he  spoke.
He said the soldier who allegedly shot his son is already in Police custody, adding that he had filed a petition to the Brigade Commander of the 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt, the Chief of Army Staff in Abuja and the Inspector General of Police.

“My lawyer went to make report to the Brigade commander in Port Harcourt. He has also gone to Abuja to drop the petition with the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police.  My son was murdered in cold blood. As far as I am concerned, I want justice to be done because he was unjustly murdered “, he repeated.

Mr Akangbou who relied on eye witness accounts  to tell the story of  how his son died, said the incident happened at about  2.30 pm  that black Wednesday while the Late Dombraye was on duty  on a barge project at Glovic yard Trans Amadi   where he  was assigned to by his firm, Lumbegh Services limited.

To be sure he did not leave out any part in the story,  he read out some portions of the account told by those who where there when the ugly incident happened.  Later he handed a photocopy of the account to Vanguard Metro
According to the documented account, the son, Mr Dombraye was allegedly shot by an Army Sergeant attached to a construction firm in the area.

The deceased was  reportedly in the process of conveying a drum of diesel he allegedly  bought for a sister when suddenly the soldier was said to have walked up to him demanding to know how they got the petroleum product.
Excerpts from the eye witness account read in part, “Mr. Donbraye Akangbou was on duty at the construction site when the company truck brought consumable material for his project.

On citing the truck he asked the truck driver Mr Lucky Osajele to help him convey a drum of diesel he just bought for his sister’s house to their place along Peter Odili Road. As they were attempting to load the diesel into the truck, suddenly they heard a loud bang at the gate of the construction yard and Sgt Ismaila walked in corking his riffle as if ready for battle”

“He walked straight to where Mr Donbraye and Mr Lucky were trying to load the diesel on the truck and asked whether they were bunkering fuel of which they denied and even showed him the waybill to be used to convey it to Odili Road but the Sgt was adamant and insisted that he was not convinced. He looked round the compound and came back to the spot where they were standing near the truck and continued arguing with myself and Mr Donbraye.

It was at this point that Mr Donbraye told him that he knows him when he used to escort the … expatriates to inspect their barges during construction in our main yard under the Trans Woji bridge.
To this the army man said “ it’s like you want to be stubborn with me” .He then attempted to use his riffle on his right arm to hit Mr Donbraye on the leg of which Donbraye dodged and the nozzle went straight to his lower abdomen and suddenly went off. At this point, the guns magazine fell off and he quickly picked it up and inserted it back.

Donbraye fell to the ground and the shot made everybody around to take to their heel, but when the Sgt realised what he had done, he became scared and started calling out to people to help him carry him, assuring them that he’s still alive. It was at this point we now rushed back and helped carry him into Mr Donbrayes car and drove straight to a private clinic at Oginigba, but the doctor there advised us to take him to BMSH in Old GRA. It was here that Mr Donbraye finally gave up after doctors in the emergency unit had battled to save him.”

Eye witness accounts
The father of the deceased said his household  had never been the same since the sad incident occurred.  According to him, his lawyer wrote a petition from the eye witness accounts to the Nigerian Army and the Police for necessary action, stressing again that he wanted justice to be done on the issue.

When asked if there had been any response from the army to his petition, he said he was still waiting. “The one to the Brigade Commander went on Thursday   December 19 while the one to the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police went on Friday December 20th. . I am still waiting”, he said.

Contacted for comments on the issue, the Spokesman of the 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt,  Major Michael Etete  said he was not aware of the incident, adding that he had being away from the state for sometime.