ONITSHA—Two mobile policemen and a civilian were Tuesday evening feared
dead when a tipper driver allegedly lost control of his vehicle as a result of
brake failure and rammed into a police checkpoint at New Tarzan Junction,
along Enugu/Onitsha Expressway, Nkpor, Idemili North Local Government Area
of Anambra State.
But, the Divisional Police Officer at Ogidi, Hassan Musa, confirmed to newsmen
yesterday that only one policeman lost his life in the incident, while two others
were hospitalized, adding that the driver is currently in police custody.
The incident, according to a source, occurred as the tipper driver was
descending the hill and on approaching the police checkpoint, lost control of the
vehicle as a result of alleged brake failure and rammed into another lorry
carrying a container that fell on the policemen.
Some eye-witnesses at the scene of the incident blamed the tipper driver for
reckless driving, while others blamed the policemen for always creating artificial
traffic jam along the road in a bid to extort money from commercial motorists.
According to one of the eye-witnesses who preferred anonymity, “those mobile
policemen were drafted to that checkpoint few weeks ago when the police
authorities sent many policemen to Onitsha in the aftermath of the recent
protests by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and since then
the policemen had turned that checkpoint into an extortion point.”
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
