A police officer allegedly killed a commercial motor cycle rider.
A Nigerian mobile police officer on Wednesday shot and killed a motorcycle rider in Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state.
The victim, Umar Danmichika, died after the killer cop fired a bullet into his skull from a close range while he was on his motorbike.
The victim’s colleagues had mobilised for a rather violent protest before they were dispersed by heavily armed police officers.
A deployment of the officers ensured that the tensed city, recovering from recent religious clashes, did not degenerate into anarchy.
Witnesses, who spoke to our correspondent at the scene of the incident, said the okada rider was killed by a yet-to-be-identified police officer, who shot the rider from a moving truck.
“The okada rider was shot while sitting on his motorcycle waiting to collect money from a passenger,” a witness, who did not want his name disclosed, said.
The deceased, identified by his colleagues as Umar Danmichika, had just finished eating from a food vendor, and had not paid for the food when a passenger asked for his service, a witness said.
“He rushed to pick up the passenger with the intention to come back and pay. He did not make it back,” a colleague of the deceased lamented.
Another witness corroborated that narrative.
“ Wallahi, he was deliberately shot because the boy was not on the road, he was just by the road side parked and sitting on the motorcycle, so how could he have committed any offence that will warrant him been killed like that,” the witness said.
Mr. Danmichika died on the spot after he was shot.
The woman, who sold food to the deceased, Aderonke Taiwo, told PREMIUM TIMES the deceased was a regular at hers.
“He (deceased) is my regular customer, he bought 80 naira food, he has not paid me when he left to drop the passenger. But I knew he would have come back to pay me, until I heard that he was the one that was killed by the gunshots I heard shortly after he left my place.
“He is my very good customer and his death is very painful and unfortunate. In fact, God will punish the police man that killed that innocent boy for nothing,” Ms. Taiwo said.
The scene of the incident has been cordoned off by a team of heavily armed security men to prevent any possible break down of law and order in the state.
The body of the slain Okada rider has been deposited at the Barau Dikko Specialist hospital.
The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Adefemi Adenaike, confirmed the incident.
“We are doing something about the policeman that killed the Okada man. The culprit will be charged to court for murder. The law must take its full course,” Mr. Adenaike said.
The police boss said he had informed the Inspector General of Police about the incident and had gotten approval to fully investigate the murder.
“We don’t train officers to kill innocent people in the society and take the law into their hands,” he said.
Mr. Adenaike appealed to law abiding citizens of the state to go about their normal business, as the police “are on top of the matter.”
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