A police corporal in Ogun State on Tuesday, shot dead a commercial vehicle driver identified as Likinyo Olumide at the Sagamu Tollgate area along the Lagos-Benin Expressway.
The driver was conveying seven passengers and their goods from Lagos to Okitipupa in Ondo State, when the tragic incidence happened.
One of the seven passengers, who witnessed the killing, Folake Egbeuwalo, stated some policemen, who were around the tollgate area, had stopped the vehicle and the driver promptly parked by the road side.
For reasons which the passengers claimed not to have known, the corporal shot the driver where he was standing beside his vehicle, killing him on the spot.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, stated the corporal had been arrested.
Based on what was gathered, the 42-year-old driver is survived by six children and a pregnant wife.
Speaking with journalists at the Police Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, yesterday, Egbeuwalo stated the incident occured at 9.45pm on Tuesday, as they were coming from Lagos, where they went to buy some goods and heading back for Okitipupa in Ondo State.
She said, “The late driver was our permanent driver, he used to carry us from Okitipupa to Lagos. So, the man carried us from Idumagbo on Lagos Island. As we were coming, we met many policemen and soldiers on the road, we stopped and settled them.
“When we got to Sagamu Tollgate, we did not know that there were policemen on the road; they asked the driver to park and immediately he parked.
“As the driver came down from the vehicle, he stood beside the vehicle and the policeman moved to the other side of the road and shot him dead.”
Egbeuwalo added that the policeman and his colleagues, realising what had happened, fled the area immediately, but came back a few minutes later and took away the corpse in one of the Hilux vans with number plate NPF 104 OD.
She, however, lamented that all the passengers were abandoned and slept on the highway as none of them could drive the car after the death of the driver.
A younger brother of the late driver, Likinyo Solomon, lamented the death of the deceased, who he stated was survived by six children and a pregnant wife.
He said, “I demand to see the person that killed my brother and to know what actually happened before he was killed.”
During his visit to Ogun State yesterday, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 , Balade Hassan, said: “The regulation is clear and the constitution is clear about the right to life of all Nigerians. So, if anybody takes the life of anybody, be it a policeman or civilian, not as provided by the constitution, that person will face the full wrath of the law.
“You know the present Inspector-General of Police and previous IGs do not take things lightly when things like that go wrong.
“You would recall that something like this happened in Lagos, the policeman was arrested, tried, dismissed from the force and arraigned in less than 24 hours after the incident.
“The police is trying to say anyone who flouts the rules and regulation, will get his case in court as the case may be.
“This case is not an exception from other cases. The person would be tried as prescribed by the law, after finding him guilty, he would be dismissed and charged to court.”