Buhari sends delegation to condole family of slain police officer

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, dispatched a three-man delegation from the Presidency to commiserate with the family of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, who was killed when a protest by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) turned violent last month.

The IMN members, also known as Shiites, were engaged in a protest to compel the government to free their leader, Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and his wife, who has been held in detention since December 2015.

The delegation includes State Chief of Protocol to the President, Ambassador Abdullahi Lawal Kazuare, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, and Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to the President, Seriki Abba.

The delegation was received by Usman Belel, elder brother of the late Police officer, himself a Commissioner of Police, and widow of late Umar, Busrah.

Besides Umar, Precious Owolabi, a corps member attached to Channels Television in Abuja was hit by a stray bullet, a development that led to his death.

Umar, an operations officer at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, was reportedly shot as he tried to pacify the protesters who went on a rampage around the Federal Secretariat complex situated around the Three Arms Zone.

The protesters also destroyed vehicles belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), among other violence visited on their victims.