Bribe Seeking Police Officer Shoots Two Drivers In Kogi State

Bribe Seeking Police Officer Shoots Two Drivers In Kogi State

On Tuesday, a police inspector identified as Mohammed Usman allegedly
shot and wounded two drivers in Lokoja, Kogi State over alleged refusal
to give bribe.

The incident was said to have occurred at the Ibro Motor Park,
opposite the Lokoja International Market. Ibrahim Yakubu, the branch
chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), said
that trouble started when one of their drivers was stopped by a police
team at a checkpoint in Zango area on the Lokoja-Okene highway and
ordered to offer them a bribe.

According to him, the driver refused and continued on his journey
towards Lokoja. He, however, added that the policemen chased after the
driver to the Ibro Motor Park. 

“We were just sitting at the park at about 11am, when we started
hearing sporadic gunshots. The next thing, we saw one of our fellow
drivers run to the union office. The next thing, we saw two policemen
follow him. Our union officials addressed them and they left.

The driver said he left his vehicle by the roadside and when we went
there, we met a police inspector inside the vehicle. We told him that we
are taking the vehicle to the park and he followed us inside. On
getting to the union office at the motor park, we told him that we had
already settled the matter with the other two policemen.

Upon hearing that, he (Inspector Mohammed Usman) became furious and
brought out his gun and first shot on the ground. As he continued his
sporadic shooting, a bullet hit one of our drivers, Mohammed Attah, on
the leg, while another driver, Emmanuel, was hit in the stomach.

Following the incident, the other policemen stationed outside drove
into the park with their hilux bus, and quickly rescued the inspector
and drove out.

We then went to B Division Police Station to report the matter and
the DPO followed us with the victims to Federal Medical Centre and from
there we went to the state police command, to report the matter. The CP
has ordered that the policemen involved should be detained until the
outcome of victims in the hospital.”

The spokesman of the Kogi State Police Command, William Aya, who
confirmed the incident, explained that the policemen who were on
stop-and-search operation stopped the driver, but that he refused, and
as a result, they pursued him, on the suspicion that he might be
carrying incriminating items.

He added that the driver got to a town near a motor park and
abandoned his vehicle by the roadside and ran into the park. He said one
of the policemen went after him, and that in the process, there was a
misunderstanding which led to accidental discharge.

Aya said that the policemen involved have been detained, while the
matter is being investigated by the State CID. He added that appropriate
sanctions would be taken against those found wanting, at the close of
investigation.