PHOTO: Police killed ‘foreigner’ for driving against traffic in Lagos – Eyewitness
A trader who witnessed the killing of a
driver, Santos 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.
The witness, Tayo Odunlami, told PUNCH Metro
that the driver, 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.
Odunlami added that his younger brother was also present.
Narrating what occurred on the fateful
day, Odunlami 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.”
PUNCH Metro investigations revealed that the killer policemen were attached to the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.
The witness told our correspondent that
the policemen, however, came in without LASTMA officials in a commercial
bus which had been seized from its owner and then used it to carry out
an illegal operation on that particular day.
He said the surviving occupant of the vehicle had reported the matter at Area D Command.
He said, “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. We 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.
However, our correspondent who visited the scene on Saturday learnt that he was a Nigerian whose real name was Onyekachi Korie.
PUNCH Metro had reported on
Friday that 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 our correspondent that the killer policemen had written confessional statements.
The source said, “The murder was a case
of police extortion that went out of hand. However, there will be no
cover up on the matter as we have arrested both killer policemen as well
as those who have been engaging on illegal traffic duty.”
The police source told our correspondent
that the suspects confessed that they usually engaged in illegal duty
between 5am and 7am.
He said, “The police suspects said they
usually seized commercial buses and then used it to extort money from
people early in the morning before LASTMA men come for morning shifts.
Sylvester also confessed that he had driven the policemen on over 10
illegal operations.
“He said after arresting traffic
offenders, they would take them to a corner and negotiate a specific
amount of money and then release them. He said offenders were never
taken to LASTMA office because they would need to register the case and
by so doing, they would not make any money.”
However, the police spokesperson, Ngozi
Braide, had said the killers might have been hired killers in police
uniform. She, however, confirmed that arrests had been made.
Our correspondent, who visited the Area D
Command on Saturday, saw the deceased’s vehicle with registration
number, EH778FST on the premises.
