Over the years have been a recurrence of same issue too many by Nigeria police men extorting money from commercial drivers unlawfully which in many cases ended up shedding blood of innocent citizens. At the early hour of today, Riots broke out in parts of Benin City, Edo State, following the death of a commercial bus driver identified as Sunny who was allegedly pushed to his death by a policeman.
According to an eye witness report who happen to be the fiancé to the driver, she said police demanded for money and the deceased offered N100 but the policemen insisted that it must be N200, it was during an argument that the police pushed her fiancé into a moving truck which crushed his head and splattered his brains.
It was gathered that the incident happened at about 9am but sympathizers refused a reinforced team of policemen take away the body until about 12 noon when soldiers forcefully broke the barricade and took away the body.
The riots by the commercial bus drivers left many pedestrians stranded especially those going to Oregbeni market at Ikpoba-Hill from various parts of the city. Five police Hilux vans and a truck belonging to the Edo State Government for its task force activities were set ablaze in different areas by the rioters.
The deceased driver was said to have fixed his wedding for next week Saturday.
When contacted for comments, State Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, said the police has commenced investigation into the incident.
Kokumo stated that nobody has been able to state what actually happened except from hearsay evidence.
He said all eyewitness’s statements that have been obtained did not state categorically that they were present when the deceased was pushed by the policemen,
His words, “We are investigating the allegation. We want eye witness to give a proper account. Nobody has come out to say it was the police that pushed the man. The allegation was made against the police and we will investigate.”
“Investigation is ongoing it is unfortunate that it happened. Nobody has said he saw the policeman pushed the driver.”
On the killing of two rioters, the commissioner said he would also carry out detailed investigation because where the accident happened is a far place to where the two rioters were reportedly shot. Kokumo said he would not tolerate the use of lethal weapon against unharmed civilians.
Source; THE NATION