Police Kill Foreigner For Driving Against Traffic

A trader who witnessed the killing of a driver, Onyekachi Korie, by policemen in the Mushin area of Lagos State last Thursday has said the policemen opened fire on him because he drove against traffic. Korie, who was earlier described as a foreigner, but had now been properly identified as a Nigeria, was not the sole occupant of the vehicle. Narrating what occurred on the fateful day, a witness said, 

“Around 7am last Thursday, I was carrying out the weekly market sanitation at Daleko Market when I saw a silver-coloured Toyota Highlander Sports Utility Vehicle coming from Ilasamaja direction.On getting beneath the bridge and driving towards Mushin, he noticed that there was a roadblock due to construction and he claimed he did not know the alternative route to take so a newspaper vendor advised him to reverse and drive against traffic, make a U-turn and then ascend the Daleko Bridge.He drove against traffic and as he was about making a U-turn to ascend the bridge, he was accosted by the policemen.The policemen were talking to him, but he was smiling and did not roll down his window. The next thing I heard were four gunshots and everyone fled. The man’s car continued to move probably because he had taken his legs off the brakes. The vehicle then rammed into the side of the bridge, damaging the car.”

 The killer policemen were attached to the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority. They however, came in without LASTMA officials in a commercial bus which had been seized from its owner and then used to carry out an illegal operation on that particular day.The policemen usually work with LASTMA under the bridge and due to the ongoing construction, motorists are usually allowed to drive against traffic. The policemen wanted to extort money from people that morning, that was why they came in a commercial bus and not the LASTMA van. After they killed the man, they fled and some commercial motorcycle riders chased them but they shot into the air to scare people away. They then jumped on a motorcycle and fled.

Meanwhile, the other occupant of the SUV came down and started crying for help. He was then advised him to go and report the matter at Area D. The Area Commander, Omololu Bishi, arrived at the scene but by then, the man was already dead.

It was learnt that some foreign passports were found inside the deceased’s vehicle, which made people to initially believe that he was a foreigner.

 Two policemen, Idu and Ameh, as well as a tout, Sunday Sylvester, had been arrested by the police and transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

A police source at SARS told Punch that the killer policemen had written confessional statements.