A Ghanaian Professor of Botany at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State has been killed by suspected Niger Delta militants in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Prof. Peter Akomeah was killed along with a younger colleague while on a field study for the oil giant, Shell last Thursday.
The professor, a consulting environmentalist at the university, was on an assignment for the Consultancy Directorate of the university.
He and his nine-member team were said to have just concluded their assignment at a small community in Port Harcourt and were waiting in a boat for one of their members to join them so that they could go back to their hotel rooms when a boat filled with suspected militants sped past them .
The four-member military escort atatched to the team considered them a threat and fired at the suspected militants, who returned fire.
The suspected militants reportedly started shooting at the escort soldiers, who allegedly fled when they ran out of bullets.
The professor and his younger colleague were killed during the attack.
Akomeah joined the university in 1983. He hailed from Konongo-Odumasi in Asante Akyem in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
He recently visited his hometown and left for Nigeria three weeks ago. The 58-year old professor is survived by his wife, seven children and two grand children.
One of his sons, Augustine, told graphic.com.gh that his death is a tragic loss.
He pleaded with the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria to ensure that appropriate legal action is taken against his father’s killers.
“No amount of compensation can atone for our loss,” Augustine said.
Mar82012