Wife of murdered newspaper vendor distances herself from N500m compensation demand

Josephine Okereke, the widow of the late Ifeanyi Okereke, has distanced herself from his family’s demand of N500 million from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Recall that Okereke was shot and killed by a security aide when Gbajabiamila’s convoy passed through the Federal Secretariat, Abuja on Thursday, November 19, 2020.

In a November 23, letter signed by Okereke’s family’s counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), the Speaker was asked to pay N500m as compensation or face legal consequences after seven days. While Ozekhome noted that the letter was written on behalf of Okereke’s father and brother, Josephine said she was not informed about it when she spoke at a media briefing on Thursday, November 26.


She noted that Gbajabiamila has already promised to take care of the needs of the deceased’s family, especially the education of his children. Josephine said she was shocked by the family’s demand and is not interested in anything that will jeopardise the promise already made to care for her two children.

“All I want now is that the person that killed my husband to face justice, he was the bread winner of the family and he just secured a job with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment,” she said.