By DANJUMA AMODU, Olamaboro

Outrage is sweeping Okpo, Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State, after security guards at Nana College of Health tortured and shot dead Andrew Amehson Aziko, a final-year student they knew by name — the second alleged extrajudicial killing in the council area in two months.

The incident, which reportedly occurred at Nana College of Health, Ibana Okpo, was first brought to public attention by Hon. Danjuma Onoja, former Secretary of Olamaboro LGA.

Onoja wrote: “At the early hours of today, Tuesday, 28 April 2026, a life was taken wrongly at Nana College of Health, Ibana Okpo. I call on the Chairman of the Local Government to please investigate this matter thoroughly so that the perpetrators of this act are brought to book.”

Footage of the incident, also circulated in a post by Abubakar Ibrahim Idoko, shows Andrew being beaten with batons several times by the school’s security guards before he was shot multiple times — in the head, abdomen, and back. His remains have since been deposited in the morgue, pending formal identification and verification.

In the video, Andrew is heard pleading in Igala, telling the security guards to “touch his hand” before they act. It is evident from the exchange that the operatives knew and recognised him. He even called one of them by name. When asked who sent him, Andrew replied: “My father.” One security guard retorted: “You are lying because your father is late,” confirming he was a known face in the community.

Andrew’s father, a well-known socialite before his death, was a former lecturer at Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, community sources confirmed. Preliminary accounts indicate the deceased was a final-year student on the Anyigba campus of the same College. He was regarded as well-behaved by those who knew him, including his landlady in Anyigba.

Reacting to the video in the Okpo Unity Initiative WhatsApp group, Sunday Fedejo asked: “What exactly did he steal from them that warrants him to be treated in this manner? Very, very unfortunate.”

Responding via voice note in the group, Onoja clarified that Andrew “didn’t steal anything.” He explained that the victim had mental health issues and was brought back home from Anyigba for treatment, but escaped from a rehabilitation centre and wandered to the school before the incident “that is putting the local government in a bad light.”

Despite battling mental health issues, Andrew was not known for any vices before the incident, residents added.

Monday Ujah, a cousin of the victim, corroborated Danjuma’s account. He described the act in a voice note on the group’s WhatsApp as abysmal, disheartening and pathetic.

“This happened in Olamaboro where we grew up, and I never heard of this kind of callous behaviour, where brothers have no sympathy for their kith and kin to the extent of killing him,” he said.

He called the action barbaric, noting that Andrew had no bad record. He queried the school authorities and those urging calm, saying the management of Nana College of Health, on whose campus the incident occurred, had yet to visit the family.

Ujah also lamented the death of Andrew’s father, saying he would have gone after the security guards without delay. He tasked the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development and the Local Government Chairman to “up their game” in addressing the killing to avoid a recurrence.

Failure to act, he warned, could push grieving families toward retaliation or plunge the town into unrest. “It is akin to how Boko Haram started after the killing of their leader in 2009 in Maiduguri,” he said.

“Even if we assume, without conceding, that he was a hardened criminal or involved in illicit activities, the fact remains that at that moment, he appeared unarmed and posed no immediate threat,” Idoko wrote in his post. “No individual or group has the legal authority to take a life under such circumstances.”

“A trigger was pulled, and with it, his voice was silenced, his pleas cut short, and his right to due process extinguished. Regardless of any alleged wrongdoing, justice must never be replaced with brutality.”

“The annoying thing about this was the trigger that silenced him was pulled not by bandits or terrorists but by known faces — people employed by the school as security guards to maintain law and order and protect lives on campus. They pulled the trigger instead of giving him a hand to hold to stand up as he requested. Who even knows what he wanted to say if he was given the hand? This is man’s inhumanity to man,” a resident said.

Sherifat Zakari, another resident and member of the group, added: “If any action isn’t taken, this might still happen next time. This guy really needs justice. This is so painful.”

This marks the second reported case of extrajudicial killing in Olamaboro within two months, allegedly involving local security actors.

In a similar incident, a young man reportedly died after members of a local vigilante group assaulted him in a remote part of the council area. His mother had called the vigilantes to separate a fight between him and his sister. Witnesses said the youth was beaten severely after being accused of wrongdoing, and his death triggered anger and grief among relatives who demanded justice.

Residents say the pattern of killings and impunity has left the community in fear. When youths protested the earlier vigilante incident, innocent young men from the community were arrested after clashes with State Security personnel. It is alleged that some of them are still being held by the Police and DSS, leaving parents in distress.

“The youth are angered by these extrajudicial killings as it seems to be a recurring issue in the locality, and if nothing is done, it may lead to a breakdown of law and order in the community,” a resident said, asking not to be named.

The killing has drawn widespread reactions online. Adam Suleiman, identified as Distinguished Senator on the group, compared what happened in Okpo with a police shooting in Effurun, Delta State:

“Sometimes it is like we are on the wrong side of the world. See how the guy that was shot by police in Delta dey trend online. That's how justice is quickly gotten. We are experiencing similar things in our place right now, no news even report it,” he said.

Also, Richard (known. As Rich Express) on WhatsApp, berated stakeholders: “If the Local Government Chairman had really handled the same incident in Ukoh village last time, history would not have repeated itself.”

He described the killing of Andrew as “pure wickedness and unprofessional” on the part of the school’s security guards.

“The same commissioner we are talking about here also heard what happened at Ukoh, but they all slept over it. That is why the so-called vigilantes and security guards keep acting like thugs,” he said.

“Imagine hitting an innocent fellow this way without any feeling. What stopped them from taking him to a nearby police station, for crying out loud? Are these people really human beings?”

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