A police officer attached to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Benin, has reportedly shot Juliana Martins, a 400-level student of the University of Benin.
Martins, a Mass Communication student of the university, and a participant at the workshop of the Petroleum Industrial Act organised by the NPDC, was reportedly shot at the gate of the oil firm.
Student participants at the workshop said that the company breached the agreement reached with them on payment of transportation allowance and cash incentive to about 50 persons.
This, they said, was why they embarked on a protest at the entrance of the company, leading to the incident.
The spokesperson for the Niger Delta Student’s Union and Coordinator PIA workshop, Emieye Romeo, said they were at the firm’s gate to register their grievance before the management on how they were treated by the company.
Romeo said that they were at the company’s gate the previous day but were told to come back the next day.
He alleged that the amount that was agreed upon was not paid and the laptops promised were not given. “Instead they gave us an empty bag,” he said.
Romeo said that they decided to take their protest to the gate of the company having been disappointed by the organisation’s failure to keep its words.
According to him, they were engaging in a peaceful protest when a police officer attached to the company fired some shots against the warnings by his superior colleague.
He said in the process, a 400 level student of the University of Benin was hit by bullet on her leg. She was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
Romeo urged the Commissioner of Police, Edo State Command to sanction the said police officer to serve as a deterrent to others.
As of the time of filing this report, the Police Public Relations Officer in the Command, Bello Kontong, said he had yet to be briefed on the incident.
