The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has claimed that the Ebonyi State Government and the police command in the state lied over the detonated ‘bomb’ which killed a policeman on Tuesday.
It was reported that an explosion occurred opposite Amizi Amangbala Primary School in Afikpo North in Ebonyi State on Tuesday which plunged residents into tension while passersby ran for safety.
Some residents who witnessed the explosion said a suicide bomber was trying to gain access into the primary school before he accidentally blew himself.
However, the state’s police command debunked the report, saying a police officer mistakenly hit the lead of his grenade which was hanging on his waist with his elbow resulting in the deadly explosion.
A statement by the Special Assistant to the Ebonyi State Governor on Media and Publicity, Francis Nwaze also described the report as the handiwork of mischief-makers.
Reacting, HURIWA in a statement on Wednesday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said the explanation from the police command contradicted the statement from the state government.
The group called for an “independent forensic investigation” into the explosion.
The statement reads in part, ”We do not accept the official explanation given by the Ebonyi State Government and the contradictory explanation by the police on the same incident.
“Whereas the Ebonyi State government called it an Accidental explosion of a grenade in his (police man’s) body that accidentally exploded but the Police called it a teargas canister that exploded so between the Ebonyi State government and the Police Command in Ebonyi State that gave a contradictory explanation on the same matter, one of them or both is/are lying.
This is because there is a wide Chasm between a grenade and a tear gas canister.
”This is because a tear gas Isn’t technically a “gas,” Chatter Said.
“It’s a powder that is heated and mixed with a liquid or solvent and released from Canisters as an aerosol.
“A grenade is a military-grade weapon, says multiple security experts.
We invite the World to see the lies in the two claims”.
