Lagos CP disowns policeman who shot truck assistant in Apapa

There was pandemonium early Wednesday morning on Burma Road in Apapa as a mobile policeman attached to Diamond Bank shot a truck driver assistant (popularly called motor boy) for allegedly obstructing the front view of the bank.

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TheNewsGuru.com gathers that the mobile policeman accosted the truck assistant (thinking he was the driver) for parking directly to the bank and asked him to move the truck from the premises of the bank.

However, the assistant was said to have asked for some minutes to plug his phone before calling on his boss to move the truck. However, his request fell on deaf ears as the angry policeman shot the assistant at close range. This sparkled protests as truck drivers and assistants vowed to revenge their colleague’s death.

“We have been on this road for over ten days and loads are yet to be offloaded. Everyone you see here is tired. However, because of the limited space on this road, trucks are indiscriminately packed on both lanes. Policemen have been harassing us for so long and we can’t take this anymore. The person that was shot was not even a driver. He pleaded for the policeman to give him some minutes to call his boss to move the truck and he still shot him,” a visibly angry driver told TheNewsGuru.com.

The policeman sensing danger, ran for cover with his fellow officer attached to Sterling Bank, located a few kilometres from his bank. The drivers and other protesters who had now increased in numbers matched to the bank and demanded that the policeman be released to them.

When TheNewsGuru.com visited the scene of the incident, commercial activities were at a halt. The ever busy Burma Road which is not strange to container-laden trucks moving at slow pace due to the deplorable condition of the roads was almost a shadow of its self.

Irate protesters had wreaked havoc on companies and banks in the vicinity. Mostly affected were Diamond and Sterling Banks. The ATM galleries were set ablaze and the buildings housing the banks were not spared. Other banks and companies adjacent the road were shut for fear of attacks from the protesting crowds. Blood stains were seen all around the area and it took extra caution to pass through the road as glasses and windscreen of vehicles had been shattered on the ground.The truck drivers, who lamented the number of days they have spent on the road without clearance said they were used to police harassing them in the area. They said this was not the first time truck drivers were unjustifiably killed by trigger happy policemen.

“This is not the first time this is happening. All they want from us is money and the moment we refuse them they start harassing us. The government must act fast before they kill us all,” another driver told TheNewsGuru.com.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni who did an on the spot assessment of the vicinity and damaged properties with his team however calmed the nerves of the angry drivers and protesters.

The Commissioner who spoke in both English and Yoruba Languages, noted that the killer cop acted on his own will and will be punished according to law. He also admonished the truck drivers to be law abiding and report any erring officer to the command authorities.

“Let me assure you that the officer who killed your colleague did so out of his will. The Inspector General of Police did not order any officer to kill the people that he is saddled with the primary responsibility to protect. You can be rest assured that he will be tried and punished according to law.

However, you shouldn’t have taken laws into your hands too by harming people and destroying properties. Even if you set this whole place on fire, it won’t bring the dead back to life. I sympathise with you and most importantly the family of the slayed boy,” Fatai told the crowd who applauded him for his prompt response at their distress call.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that the drivers took turns to express their grievances and other unwholesome practices of some men of the force posted in the area. The CP however assured the drivers that the force will do everything possible to ensure that erring officers are brought to book.

“Yes we know that there are corrupt policemen just as we have corrupt citizens. However, we have said it over time that whatever money these officers take from you won’t do them any good and we are not resting on our oars to ensure that we flush them out of the system,” the CP said.