IMPUNITY Day Onitsha residents took laws into their hands Killed 2 policemen
Residents of the commercial city of Onitsha in Anambra State lynched some policemen over allegedly causing the death of a pregnant woman and her children at a check point.
Cases of police extortion and illegalities in the country may not be over as yet despite efforts to clean the Aegean stables. Across the country, these issues had led to some crisis situations. Onitsha recently faced the same challenge.
“They were simply victims of circumstances, poor innocent woman and her children. Who could have imagined, not to talk of believing that they would meet their sudden and untimely death the way they did?” an eye witness to the ghastly motor accident that claimed the life of a woman and her three kids recently in Onitsha, Anambra State, lamented.
The deceased, a pregnant mother and her three kids, were said to be returning from a private hospital in the commercial city, when they were crushed to death by an articulated lorry.
The children, said to have accompanied their mother to attend the antenatal, were said to be waiting to board a bus along the Onitsha-Owerri expressway, when the driver of the truck loaded with sand, suddenly rammed into them, killing all of them instantly.
A witness narrated that the driver of the lorry had lost control and killed the members of the family when he was abruptly stopped by policemen at a checkpoint.
“Perhaps in an effort to escape, the driver suddenly swerved to the direction of the pregnant woman and her children, killing all of them on the spot,” the witness said. The incident immediately triggered off chaos in the vicinity as some residents in the area, predominately youths, mobilised and chased the police officers who they blamed for the unfortunate incident.
According to the witness, two policemen were killed in the process, while no fewer than four vehicles as well as a cement depot some of the policemen ran into for safety were set ablaze.
A police source however absolved the police from being responsible for the incident as alleged, saying the checkpoint was away from the area the accident took place.
The source which blamed the incident on the driver and mechanical fault of his vehicle, said the pandemonium that later followed that led to the death of the policemen, was entirely a case of jungle justice and wrongful expression of aggression by misguided elements.
“The incident has nothing to do with the police. If you check where the accident took place, the check point is far from it. How come the information that the truck driver was trying to dodge the police?
“The question that begs for answer is what has the burnt vehicles and the factory got to do with the death of the woman and the children? Besides, the depot that was reported to belong to Dangote is also false. It is simply a case of misguided elements expressing their anger wrongly.
“From experience, occasions like these are always hijacked by From experience, occasions like these are always hijacked by hoodlums and I guess that was what the officers were trying to avoid before they met their untimely death. It is very unfortunate hoodlums and I guess that was what the officers were trying to avoid before they met their untimely death. It is very unfortunate,” the source added.
The Anambra State Police Command, had in a statement signed by the command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Nkeiruka Nwode, warned that it would no longer tolerate a situation where people would take the law into their own hands.
The statement said it had arrested 13 persons in connection with the incident, adding that a rifle believed to belong to one of the deceased policemen was recovered in the house of one of those arrested.
It said the bodies of the four persons who lost their lives during the fracas had been deposited at the mortuary.
According to the statement, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Umar, had ordered investigation into the matter to ascertain the cause of the incident with a view to fishing out the perpetrators.
The statement partly read, “Anambra State Police Command received a distress call that misguided elements numbering over 100 went on the rampage and attacked a police checkpoint at Km 4/6 along Onitsha-Owerri road manned by visiting Police Mobile Unit attached to 3 PMF Enugu.
“Meanwhile, following the distress call, police patrol teams led by DPO from Okpoko rushed to the scene, restored normalcy in the area and arrested 13 suspects, including one Paul Igwe, whose custody the deceased police riffle was recovered.”
Recently, three policemen were dismissed for corruption and extortion in Lagos.
According to reports, the action was taken in a case reported few weeks ago using the Whatsapp social-messaging service.
In a statement by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Shogunle of the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) in Abuja, the dismissal followed an internal trial at which the men were found guilty, under the Police Act, of corrupt practices and discreditable conduct.
The dismissed officers are Inspector Okelue Nkemeonye, Sgt. Braimoh Sunday and Sgt. Yusuf Olukoga while their lead officer, ASP Bayo Obadiah, received an official query and his case is being sorted out.
According to the statement, the four officers falsely paraded themselves as operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) despite not being posted to SARS by police authorities.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that in a image-makeover effort, the PCRRU had been sending to the public messages such as: “Remember, Bail is Free”, “PCRRU says No to impunity” and our quick response will put a smile on your face.”