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Nigeria: 2 banks burnt as Policeman kills truck driver
Diamond Bank

Nigeria: 2 banks burnt as Policeman kills truck driver

LAGOS—Pandemonium erupted, yesterday, at Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos, as dozens of articulated truck drivers went on rampage over the death of one of their colleagues and set two bank branches on fire.

The aggrieved truck drivers had targeted the banks over the death of their colleague, who was allegedly shot by a mobile policeman attached to one of the new generation banks in the area.

Another driver was said to have also been shot while on the verge of pouring fuel on the fleeing policeman in a move to set him ablaze. But it could not immediately be ascertained if he also died on the spot, as speculated.

There were, however, different accounts as to how the deceased, identified as Tunde Azeez, 27, from Osun State was killed.

A version of the account had it that truck drivers who usually queued along the major road waiting for their turn to load petroleum products from tank farms in the axis, blocked entrance into companies, including banks, at about 10 a.m.

It was learned that request for a particular truck driver to leave the entrance of one of the bank branches fell on deaf ears, as it reportedly resulted in a verbal confrontation between a mobile policeman and some truck drivers.

In the process, the unidentified mobile policeman was said to have fired some shots, apparently to scare the drivers away but a bullet hit one of them, killing him on the spot.

The action sparked off a violent protest as a mob, suspected to be truck drivers, chased the policeman who ran into the premises of a nearby bank to take cover.
They demanded that he be brought out for jungle justice to be meted out on him. When all entreaties to the protesting truck drivers failed, the erring policeman reportedly fled from the bank to another one nearby, which was set on fire by the mob in order to forcibly get the culprit.

N200 demand
Another version of the account said the erring mobile policeman was attached to one of the banks.

Reports alleged that the policeman allegedly shot the driver of the truck with number plate AGL 222 XC for refusing to part with N200 bribe as fees to park in front of the bank.

A driver, who simply gave his name as Danjuma, stated that they usually paid policemen attached to banks on the axis between N200 and N300 in order to allow them park indiscriminately on the road.

Danjuma said: “The driver was shot because he said he did not have N200 to give to the MOPOL. Then, the policeman said he should remove his truck from that position.
When he refused, he threatened to shoot him but Tunde dared him. "Before we knew what was happening, he pulled the trigger and fired at the driver point blank. It was not an accidental discharge or stray bullet.

‘Hoodlums burnt banks’
"We were not the ones that set the banks ablaze, hoodlums did. What we did was to block the road with our trucks and demanded that the policeman be handed over to us to take to the police station, so that he won’t escape.”

But a trader on Creek Road who gave his name as Moyosore Ola, said “the banks were set on fire by tanker drivers. In fact, the fuel with which they set the banks on fire was brought out from one of the trucks."

Members of staff of the banks had to scale the fence to other buildings to make their escape.

Windscreens of vehicles parked in the premises of the banks were shattered by the protesting truck drivers.

Credit: Vanguard Nigeria 

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