Family of slain Abuja vendor demand N500m from Gbajabiamila

… promise litigation after 7 days of non compliance

By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

The family of Ifeanyichukwu Okereke,the Abuja vendor who shot dead by a security aide to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has written a letter to the Speaker, demanding N500 million.
This was contained in a letter dated November 23, 2020, and signed by the lawyer of the family, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) to Gbajabiamila.

Father of the deceased Mr Okerie Okereke and the younger brother Destiny Okereke had mandated Ozekhome to write the letter on behalf of their family.The letter read in part,” Our clients have instructed us to make from your good slf, the following modest demands: That you use your good offices to ensure the immediate persecution of to your security aide( Abdullahi Hassan) who went frolic of his own, clearly acted outside the purview of his duty and responsibility by shooting to death an innocent, harmless and armless citizen.” ” That you adequately compensate the Okereke family with a modest sum of N500m only . This monetary demand can never adequately replace or take the place of their son, husband, brother and breadwinner’s life. But it will at least mitigate the obvious trauma and hardship the premature demise or their irreplaceable breadwinner has placed on them.”

Department of State Services had last week arrested trigger happy operative Abdullahi Hassan, who shot Okereke while Gbajabiamila has visited the family of the deceased and promised to ensure that they do not suffer.
The family also asked the Speaker to ensure that the safety of vendors is guaranteed as they had become afraid to return to the streets since the tragic incident.

The Okereke family said it would take legal action against Gbajabiamila if all the demands are not met within seven days.

“Take note therefore that it is our clients’ firm instruction that in the event that you fail, refuse and/or neglect to accede to or proffer reasonable compensatory terms to our above modest demands within seven days from the date of this letter, we shall without any further correspondences from us, take appropriate legal steps to enforce our clients’ constitutional rights,” the letter stated.