The chairman of the Ughelli branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Austin Icheghe, was Thursday night killed by an unknown gunman.
Icheghe, it was gathered, was shot to death at about 9pm Thursday night, at his residence on 14, Ekredjebor Street, Ughelli town in Ughelli North council area of Delta state by a lone gunman.
Meanwhile, the Warri branch of the NBA has alleged that the killing of their colleague was a pure case of assassination and charged security agencies to successfully pursue the case so as to nip the rising spate of fatal attacks on lawyers in Delta state.
It was gathered that the killer attacked Icheghe in the presence of his immediate family, shooting him in the face.
Narrating the incident, a niece of the Icheghe, Egunor Uviesa, said he was killed just as he was alighting from his car on his way back home from work.
“As soon as he came down from his vehicle, they accosted him, and shot him on the head with the bullet damaging part of his face. He was immediately rushed to a private clinic here in Ughelli where he was confirmed dead,” Uviesa said.
However, the chairman of the Warri branch of the NBA, John Aikpokpo-Martins, has condemned the brutal murder of his Ughelli counterpart, describing it as one murder too many.
Aikpokpo-Martins also noted that the fact that he was attacked by a lone gunman further confirmed that the killing was not armed robbery, but that of assassination, charging security agencies to step up their game and arrest the rising risk to lawyers in the state.
“We condemn it in very strong terms and call on the police and other security agencies to unravel the perpetrators of the crime and bring them to Justice.
“This brings to the fore what we said the other time that the killing of lawyers without proper investigation will embolden other people to attack lawyers, this is why there’s need that this particular act must be investigated and in fact the last one we complained about; the Dafiaghor case, must also be investigated so that this new attitude could be nipped in the bud.
“One thing is evident in his death, he was killed by a lone gunman so it is an assassination, not a robbery and lawyers we don’t do any other thing except to talk and defend other people’s rights, but some people don’t like that,” he said.
Also confirming the incident on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta state police command, Celestina Kalu (DSP), told the Nation that the matter had been taken up by the police and was being investigated.
“He was murdered by unknown gunmen last night. No clue, no details yet, it’s still under investigation, we are trying to unravel it,” Kalu said.
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