Tears flow freely as armed robbers’ stray bullet kills Nigerian footballer in Bayelsa

It was a sad day in Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria on Sunday, October 16, 2016 when a Nigerian footballer Izu Joseph was killed by armed robbers.

According to Jubril Arowolo, the media officer of Shooting Stars football club of Ibadan, the late Joseph, a central defender with the club, was hit by a stray bullet when gunmen attacked a market in his hometown of Okaki in Bayelsa State on Sunday.

“The news came as a shock to us around 11:00 p.m. on Sunday that Izu Joseph was shot by gunmen, though we are yet to get details from the family, hopefully we will make an official statement once we get across to his family later in the day,”  Arowolo told Sportingtribune.com.

It was gathered that the player, who was home on holiday after the end of the Nigerian football league season, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The death of the defender was, however, announced on the official Twitter handle of Shooting Stars on Monday morning.

Since the news emerged on the internet, many fans of the deceased have been expressing their shock and sympathy on the demise of the player they said had a lot of promise.

See some of the reactions on Twitter: