The driver, Alimi Akeem, was a member of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Saki, Oyo state, and was murdered by the trigger-happy officer on Wednesday, March 9.
Nigerian Trubune reports that Akeem, who is also known as Sakilayewa, plied the Saki-Okerete route and was on his way back to Saki when he passed through a checkpoint mounted by ‘Yellow’ and some other officers at the Orita Sanni area, when the incident occurred.
The policemen at the checkpoint were reported to always extort N100 from motorists plying the route, but on the said day, Akeem, who drove a Peugeot 504 (Wagon) did not see Yellow when he got to the point. He was said to have given the N100 to the young man who worked as his (Yellow’s) boy, and drove on but Yellow, who was said to have noticed the anomaly, mounted his motorcycle and chased the driver, with the mindset that Akeem tried to evade paying the usual N100.
When he got close to Sakilayewa, the police officer reportedly shot at the tyre of the car and the late driver stopped to ask why he was being pursued. This was said to have infuriated the policemen who shot at the driver from close range and disappeared after the incident.
Findings later showed that yellow was not a serving police officer in the Oyo state police command, rather he was attached to force headquarters and posted for border patrol.
The state’s police spokesperson, DSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, who confirmed the story, informed that the commissioner of police, Leye Oyebade, had ordered an investigation into the matter.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
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