By CHINONSO ALOZIE, Owerri

There was tension in Imo State, following the crushing to death of an octogenarian said to be a pensioner along Wethedral road in Owerri Municipal Council, Imo State, last Monday.

An eyewitness who spoke to newsmen in Owerri confirmed the incident and said the man was coming out of a bank after he had long concluded from where he went for a verification exercise of the government.

He narrated that the said pensioner was with a 13-year-old child who watched how the grandfather was allegedly killed instantly while struggling to get his entitlements.

According to him, “The most painful aspect of it was that the man was with his child when the thing happened. The late pensioner was hit by the truck loaded with sand, damaging his brain particles to scatter on the road and blood flowed on the road. He died instantly and his corpse has been deposited in a morgue.”

“The late pensioner who was coming back from one of the verification exercises organised by the state government was crushed to death when he was trying to cross the road along Wetheral Road, Owerri.”

He alleged that “The pensioner, who retired from Imo civil service was at the Bank to find out if the series of the verification exercises have yielded anything positive but he met his untimely death.”

Sources who spoke to Vanguard said: “The truck driver when the tragedy happened he ran away and drove quickly to a nearby police station to secure himself as the angry mob were after him to harm him.”

When Vanguard called the various agencies handling the issue of pensioners in the state, they pleaded not to mention their names their reason was that they needed some time to get the details of what happened and begged that they should not be mentioned because it was not up to a month they were sworn into the office and that they should be given time to study the situation of pensioners in the state. (Vanguard)

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