Violent protest sparked off in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State Thursday, over the killing of a commercial bus driver simply identified as Edwin by a trigger happy policeman for failing to part with N50 tip.
Bus driver shot by policeman
According to the conductor of the bus, Samuel Ekwueme who was crying uncontrollably, the police, at Anambra State Broadcasting Service (ABS) Awka Road Onitsha junction check point, had stopped the Coaster bus driver with registration number AA 763 AHB and asked for N50 tip, but the driver gave him the normal N20.
The policeman said to be a Hausa man refused and insisted on collecting N50, but was told by the driver that they just came out and that they should allow them to go and come back.
The conductor said: “The policemen insisted that we must give them N50 before we move. The driver, after pleading with the unyielding policemen, drove off and one of them entered a commercial motorcycle and accosted us at Anionwu street by New Market Road Onitsha where he shot the driver through the bus window and ordered the commercial motorcyclist carrying him to move for him to escape.”
The killing of the driver exploded the bottled up anger of residents of Onitsha and the fragile peace in the state that have lost over 30 people to the bombing and shooting of the Boko Haram as residents took to the streets in protest of the killing of the bus driver said to be member of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
It was gathered that four passenger in the bus sustained bullet wounds while others in an attempt to escape sustained serious injuries when the bus became uncontrollable following the shooting of the driver by the trigger happy cop.
...the angry protesters
The situation however took a dangerous turn when angry mob comprising of drivers and commercial motorcyclist popularly known as ‘okada riders’ went on rampage with the corpse of the driver, for reprisal attack on Hausas people in Onitsha.
The bus was said to be fully loaded with passengers who took off from Nkpor junction and was heading to the Ose Okwodu and Onitsha Main Market, when the incident happened.
One of the passengers who gave her name as Ifeoma Obi told Vanguard that “the deceased did not do anything that warranted his killing, adding it was just sheer wickedness on the side of the policeman who because of just N50 wasted this young man’s life”
She also said that when the policeman first demobilized the bus by shooting at the tires of the vehicle and it could not move again, a situation she said helped the killer cop to shoot at the deceased from the window on closed range after shattering the glass of the vehicle.
The killing took an ethnic sentiment as Coaster drivers and angry mob in Onitsha went on rampage demanding the killing of Hausa people on the ground that the policeman who shot the deceased was a Hausa man.
The situation also escalated when angry mob descended on the police team earlier sent by the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Muhtari Ibrahim to come and appeal to the rampaging crowd as the team were almost lynched but for the intervention of MASSOB Director of Information, Mr Uchenna Madu who pleaded with the aggrieved protesters that their leader Chief Ralph Uwazurike is against any reprisal attack.
The Onitsha Ploice acting Area Commander, Mr Roland Omatoje and the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Central Police Station, Onitsha Mr. Abdul Yusuf escaped death by the whiskers when the angry mob descended on them when they led their men to the scene of the incident .
...the coaster bus where Edwin was shot
Reacting to the development, MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike advised his members not to touch any Hausa man but should dismantle every police check point within the zone with immediate effect.
Uwazurike who spoke through his director of information, Mr Uchenna Madu said dismantling of all police check point has became imperative at a time when the security of Ndigbo was no longer safe even in their land.
He however, urged MASSOB members to leave Hausa people alone and concentrate on dismantling all police check points within the zone”.
When contacted, the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Muhtari Ibrahim said the killer cop had been arrested and would soon undergo orderly room trail and prosecution. He called on the rampaging mob to calm down as efforts to settle the matter had commenced. (Vanguard)
Pandemonium in Onitsha as policeman shoots motorist
Onitsha Pandemonium broke out in Onitsha, Anambra, on Thursday as a mobile policemen shot dead a commercial bus driver at New Market Road, Onitsha.
The hoodlums and coaster bus drivers took to the streets protesting the killing of the driver by the policemen.
A coaster bus, with registration number AA 768 AHD, was said to have commenced its trip from Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) Junction, along Awka Road, Onitsha at about 1 p.m when the incident happened at a checkpoint.
Recounting the incident, the bus conductor to the deceased driver, Samuel Ekwueme, said that his master, Edwin, refused to give the policeman at the police checkpoint at the ABS Junction the sum of N20 as demanded by the cop.
“The policeman stopped my Oga at ABS Junction demanding for N20 but my oga beat the check point. As we were going down to the Main Market, he noticed that the policeman boarded a commercial motorcycle to chase us.
“When he noticed that the policeman was chasing us, the driver tried to take the New Market Road when the same policeman shot at the rear tyre of the vehicle.
“We stopped, then he came to the door and shot my oga in the neck.”
It was learnt that some passengers in the bus also sustained gunshot injuries.
One of the passengers, Miss Ifeoma Obi, said that the deceased did not do anything that warranted his death.
“It was just sheer wickedness on the side of the policeman, who because of just N20, wasted the life of this young man.”
NAN reports that Mr Rowland Omoteje, Acting Area Commander of Police in Onitsha and Mr. Abdul Yusuf, Divisional Police Officer in charge of Central Police Station went to the scene.
They were, however, forced to retreat as the mob booed and threw stones at him and his men.
When contacted, the Police Commissioner in Anambra, Mr. Muhtari Ibrahim, confirmed the incident and said the killer cop had been arrested and would soon face disciplinary actions.
“I appeal to the rampaging mob to calm down as we are making efforts to settle the matter and bring lasting peace to Onitsha.” (NAN)
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