The police have pleaded with the family of Lucy
Ukpong, a sales girl that was shot dead by policemen from the FCT Police
Command, for an amicable settlement of the matter.
It was gathered that the parents of the deceased
and other relations had met with some police officers over the killing of the
girl, but the meeting was not conclusive on how the matter should be settled.
Our correspondent learnt that the family were
considering settling the matter through judicial process or payment of
compensation by the police.
This revelation came just just as the
family had concluded arrangements to collect Lucy’s remains from Garki Hospital
on Friday (today) for burial in Akwa Ibom State on Saturday.
Lucy, a sales girl at a photography shop in Apo,
Abuja was hit in the chest by bullets allegedly fired by policemen from the FCT
Special Anti-robbery Squad on October 12. Three others sustained gunshot wounds
during the incident.
The 20-year-old girl was inside the shop when she
was killed by policemen who had come to enforce the order on demolition of
illegal structures by officials of development control department. The deceased
had only spent a month on her job before the incident.
Findings however indicated that the policemen
were on an illegal duty as the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council said they
were not authorised to enforce any demolition exercise during the period.
The residents of the area had resisted moves to
carry out the demolition exercise, leading to a confrontation and sporadic
gunshots by the policemen.
A family source told our correspondent on
Thursday that the Federal Capital Territory Administration gave the family
N1.8m for funeral expenses while the FCT Police Command provided coffin,
ambulance and what it called logistics support to the family.
The source stated that the police were begging
Lucy’s family for an amicable settlement of the matter, though the family
members were yet to accept their entreaties.
The source said, “The police have been pleading
with the family to drop the case, but they (family members) are yet to take a
position on the matter, they want to bury the girl first before taking a stand
on the next point of action.
“Some family members want the police to pay
compensation for killing the girl, but the police have not made any offer for
now.”
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Doris
England, could not be reached for comments as she did not respond to calls to
her phone.
The Punch
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