By Christopher Oji
There was pandemonium yesterday, at Mile 2, Lagos, as a Policeman attached to the Lagos State Task force, shot dead a tanker driver.
Many people were injured during the stampede as they scampered for safety .
Also, passengers were stranded as tanker drivers, and other commercial drivers, who were in solidarity with them, blocked the Oshodi – Apapa, and Mile 2 Apapa express roads in protest of the killing of their colleague.
It was gathered that the Task force team, arrived the expressroad in the early hours of the morning with the intention to impound some trucks that were parked on the road.
According to a witness, Mr John Maduka, the task force team, confronted a tanker driver, who parked on the road, but the driver was said to have told the officials that he was only putting water in the vehicle’s radiator, pleading that he would leave immediately after filling the radiator.
Maduka, said that his pleading did not go down well with officials who attempted to tow the vehicle, but the tanker driver, Toheeb Girisi, resisted the officials, insisting that he would leave in a few minutes,” while Girisi, was struggling with one of the policemen attached to taskforce, another policeman, who was infuriated with Girisi’s action ,shot him from behind.
“The action sparked up protest as the protesting tanker drivers, and other sympathizers, started throwing stones and other cudgels at the policemen. Also, some motor touts and street urchins started making bonfire on both sides of the road, preventing motorists, from driving inward and outward the expressway, from Mile-2”.
A tanker driver, Ogbens , told Daily Sun that, “ the deceased 25, had just loaded from Tin-Can and was on his way to deliver the product when he decided to top the vehicle’s radiator with water when he was shot dead by a trigger happy policeman. We were all waiting for our turn to move and load our trucks when we heard the gun shot. It was fired exactly 2.45am. This is too bad”.
The protest by the tanker drivers would have escalated to other parts of the state, if not for the quick mobilization of policemen from different divisions, and the Military to calm the situation.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Idowu Owohunwa and some senior security officers were on the spot assessment of the scene.
The CP was seen addressing security agencies on ground.
In reaction to the killing of the driver ,the defunct Council of Maritime Transport Unions And Associations(COMTUA), had condemned the dastardly act and appealed to the state Governor to wade into the matter and bring the killer policeman to book.
In a statement by its former National President, Adeyinka Aroyewun, he said, “It is with great sadness that we learned about this horrific act of violence, which has not only taken the life of an individual, but has also sent shockwaves throughout the transportation community. The loss of a fellow truck driver, who was merely carrying out his duties, is truly disheartening and a blow to the industry.