Residents of Ogele, a community near Eiyekorin in Ilorin, Kwara State, were on Monday evening thrown into mourning as a policeman from the state mobile police unit allegedly shot and killed an assistant driver of a truck and injured another.
The victim, one Dele Olaniyi, died on the spot, while another assistant driver, Waheed Jamiu, was seriously wounded and as at Monday night receiving treatment at the General Hospital Ilorin, the state capital.
When our correspondent visited the scene of the shooting the body of the truck, marked Kwara XB 515 SHA, was seen riddled with bullets.
Our correspondent report that the police, which initially insisted that the truck was carrying illegal goods, were however surprised when the trunk was forced open and discovered that it contained only an empty 25-litre can.
The dead victim, who wore a white top and jean trousers, was found lying in the pool of his own blood in the front of the truck with his head riddled with bullets.
Hundreds of sympathisers gathered at the warehouse where the offending policemen was kept and tied before he was eventually rescued by a detachment of policemen from the state police command headquarters.
Youths of the community who insisted on instant justice for the mobile policeman sang war songs, demanding that the man who shot the victim be released to them.
The killed driver, who was an assistant driver with Mount Olive Farms Nigeria Limited, a commodity merchandising concern, a source told our correspondent, had driven past the police checkpoint without slowing down ‘’because the policemen were not in the habit of checking long trailers.”
Our correspondent learnt that the police were usually ‘’settled’’ on a monthly basis on behalf of the truck’ drivers to avoid harassment by the policemen manning the checkpoint. The checkpoint was however dismantled by irate youths immediately after the incident.
The policemen at the checkpoint when the incident occured allegedly fired shots at the youths when they attempted to apprehend them and injured many in the process.
Speaking with our correspondent, the farm manager, Dr. Sambo Hyelni, said that those present at the warehouse tried to rescue the policeman before he was forcefully snatched by the youths who mauled him before he was salvaged by his colleagues.
The Officer in Charge, MOPOL, Kwara command, Sadiq Abubakar, who led policemen to the scene refused to speak on the matter, maintaining that only his boss, Muktar Ibrahim could speak officially.
When our correspondent contacted the state police spokesperson, Ezekiel Dabo, he said he did not have details because “he had not received signals from those in the field.”
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