Trigger-happy policeman docked for shooting 2 drivers over bribe

A trigger-happy police officer simply identified as Mohammed Usman has been arrested for shooting two drivers in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State.

According to reports, the arrested police inspector had stopped one of the drivers at a checkpoint in the Zango area on the Lokoja-Okene, asking for a bribe but the driver said he had no money to offer.

Infuriated and dissatisfied by the driver’s action, Usman reportedly gave the vehicle a chase down to the Ibro Motor Park area, where the driver had stopped, and ran into the park for refuge.

Recounting the incident, the Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers at the park, Ibrahim Yakubu said the policeman shot sporadically while chasing the driver into the park.

He said: “We were sitting in the park around 11am when we heard gunshots. The next thing we saw was one of our fellow drivers running into the union office; two policemen followed him to the office and 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, Mohammed Usman, inside the vehicle.

“We told him that we were taking the vehicle to the park and he followed us in the bus. On getting to the union office, we told him that we had already settled the matter with his colleagues.

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“Upon hearing that, he became furious and brought out his gun and first fired a shot into the ground. As he continued shooting, a bullet hit one of our drivers, Mohammed Attah, in 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 van and quickly rescued the inspector and drove off.

“We went to the ‘B’ Division Police Station to report the matter and the DPO followed us to take the victims to the Federal Medical Centre and from there, we went to the state Police Command headquarters to report the matter.

“The Commissioner of Police has ordered that the policemen involved be detained until the victims are discharged from the hospital.”

The incident was confirmed by the spokesman for the Kogi State Police Command, William Aya, who revealed that the policemen involved had been detained, while the matter was being investigated by the State Criminal Investigation Department.

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