Members of Abuja Newspapers Distributors Association (ANDA) are set to protest the killing of their member by a security aide to the Speaker of House Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
President of ANDA, Benji Obute, made this known while speaking to reporters in Abuja on Thursday. He said the association will stage a protest at the National Assembly and the Police Headquarters today over the killing of Elechi Emmanuel.
Obute noted that all their members would converge at Area 1 today to start the protest, noting that no newspapers would be distributed until after the protest. He appealed to media houses to cooperate with them to ensure that no paper is distributed.
Speaking further, Obute noted that the wife of the slain newspaper vendor recently had a newborn baby and he was planning to have the naming ceremony for the baby on Saturday.
He, however, slammed the Speaker for not reaching out to the association to commiserate with them over the death of its member. Obute noted that the speaker handed over the sum of N9, 000 to the victim before the incident who happened to be their leader in the area as the traffic light passed the convoy.
Meanwhile, Speaker Gbajabiamila has confirmed the death of a newspaper vendor and has suspended the security aide who fired the shot. In a series of tweets via his Twitter page on Friday, the speaker explained that the victim was hit by a stray bullet meant to disperse a crowd when he went to greet newspaper vendors while leaving the National Assembly.
