THERE was pandemonium recently at Igboora in Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of Oyo State, when a trigger happy policeman, identified as Femi Ajayi, killed a Tokunbo driver,  Kola Eniola (42), over his “failure to show understanding” at a checkpoint on Tapa-Idere road.

Eniola, a father of three, was coming from Cotonou on a trip with one of his sisters, Folashade Eniola. On getting to the checkpoint, they met three policemen, offered them N200, which the policemen claimed was not enough.

According to his sister, the late Eniola had decided to park the bus to know what the matter was, but as he opened the door to alight from the vehicle, he was shot at by one of the policemen. The bullet hit him on the head and he fell down.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune during a visit to the bereaved family at the deceased’s compound, Jagun, Igboora, Folashade said her deceased brother, who was able to identify the policemen, had stopped at the checkpoint and told her to give them N200.

She said that immediately she gave them the money, it was as if the policemen were not satisfied, as one of them who she identified as Felix, had demanded for N500. As the vehicle, which she said belonged to her late brother, moved, one of the policemen shot at her brother even as another policeman was telling his colleague to allow the deceased to go since he was a known person to them.

She said that her brother was taken to a hospital from where she was asked to go home and that he would be transferred to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan for further treatment, not knowing that she was being deceived until the news of her brother’s death was broken to the people and this led to pandemonium.

Folashade, who recalled that the deceased lost his father last December, said the situation became tense when people demanded for the heads of the policemen as a result of the atrocities they committed.

The policeman, who allegedly shot Eniola, was said to have appealed to the mob not to kill him but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that in an attempt to save him, the policeman was kept and locked up in one of the rooms in a hospital but that the mob found their way into the hospital, broke the door, brought him out and gave him the beating of his life before setting him on fire.

According to her, efforts by the Divisional Police Officer, Igboora, Mr M. Martins, to rescue the policeman failed as the mob poured petrol on him.

She added that immediately the petrol was poured on him, the policeman made frantic efforts to rescue himself but all to no avail as the mob insisted that he must die.

Before he was torched, Nigerian Tribune learnt that he (the policeman) tried to remove his uniform, rolled on the sand but it was all to no avail as the mob was bent on lynching him.

When he started burning, it was gathered that the DPO contacted a traditional ruler in the area to assist in appealing to the angry mob to allow them take him for treatment but the appeal had no effect as the mob insisted that he must pay for his sins.

Also speaking, wife of the deceased, Mrs Eniola Oluwabunmi, a teacher in one of the schools at Igboora, said her husband was killed because he refused to give N500 to the policeman at the checkpoint.

Oluwabunmi, mother of three, who claimed that she was in school when the news of her husband’s death was broken to her, described her deceased husband as gentle and easy going. She recalled that he was coming from Tapa only to have his life untimely terminated on Ayede-Idere road by a policeman, who was employed to protect the citizens.

She called on government to come to the aid of the family as the burden left behind by her husband was too much for her to bear, especially when the deceased still had an aged mother.

Some of the residents who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune condemned the activities of the police in the area, saying that they were responsible for a number of deaths in the town.

They recalled that on September 18, 2011, policemen at a checkpoint caused the death of three pupils of the same parents on the same day.

According to them, the deceased were coming on a motorcycle, when suddenly the policemen at the checkpoint shot at them and as they tried to escape, they ran into a moving trailer which crushed them to death.

Some of the commercial drivers who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune lamented over the activities of police men in the area, saying that most of the time they were at their mercy.

They accused the policemen of extortion and that whenever they (drivers) refused to give them bribe, they were taken to police station where they were made to pay higher fines.

Speaking on the incident, the Chairman Caretaker Committee, Ibarapa Central Local Government Area, Honourable Akinyemi Akinlabi, who commiserated with the family of the deceased, noted that crimes and insecurity of lives and properties in the area had been on the increase in the last three months.

He said that apart from  burglary cases, no fewer than 20 motorcycles had been stolen from different parts of the council area.

He said that the council would continue to complement the efforts of the Nigeria Police in combating crimes but stressed the need for the service to ensure training and re-training of its personnel, especially in civil relations.

Comments (2)

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I hope they really dealt with the bastard.
written by OwerriChief, February 01, 2012

Enough of the police wasting Nigerians lives as if this poor driver is the one causing their hardship. My condolences to the family of this poor chap.

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policemem must be stupid.
written by chief obadiah samson (ajanaoro1), February 01, 2012

i dont know what is d matter with policemen everyday police police.

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