A policeman on Monday reportedly shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist over an alleged N20 bribe at the 3-3 area of Onitsha, Anambra State.
An eyewitness said a team of riot policemen attached to the 3-3 Police Division, who were supposed to be on a routine stop-and-search patrol, flagged down a commercial bus plying the 3-3 – Omeife route and demanded the N20 bribe from the driver who declined, claiming that he had earlier given them money.
One of the policemen, who was apparently angered by the defiance of the driver, raised his gun and corked it to threaten the driver. The latter threw the money at the policeman and sped off.
Tragedy, according to the eyewitness, struck when the policeman pulled the trigger and a bullet hit an oncoming commercial motorcyclist who was heading towards Onitsha.
The cyclist died on the spot while the policeman fled.
Though a senior police officer at 3-3 confirmed the incident, the Onitsha Area Commander of the force, Mr. Larry Osita, who was said to have been transferred to Zamfara could not be reached for comment.
In another development, the Anambra State Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Tochukwu Mbachu, was on Monday kidnapped from his home in Enugwu-Ukwu in Njikoka Local Government area unknown persons.
The kidnap came barely two weeks after a new couple was kidnapped on their wedding day at their home in nearby Nibo. They were later released.
An eyewitness said the kidnappers stormed the home of Mbachu, abducted him and threw him in the boot of a vehicle belonging to the former Commissioner for Information, Chief Charles Amilo, and took off.
Amilo had come to the hospital with his aged mother for a medical check up when the hoodlums struck.
The abducted chairman was last seen at the award ceremony of the NMA on Saturday evening at Queens Suite Hotel, Awka, where he presided over events.
Police spokesman in the state, Mr. Fidelis Agbo, was not at his desk when our correspondent called.
Meanwhile, five armed riot policemen manning a checkpoint at Olaiya junction, Osogbo, fled when three armed robbers opened fire at a roadside phone shop opposite the checkpoint on Monday afternoon.
The robbers’ ages ranged between 16 and 20 years.
The policemen fled into a clothes shop when they heard the first shot fired by one of the robbers.
An eyewitness said the salesman raised his eyebrows when one of the robbers smashed the glass shelf housing expensive mobile telephone sets and this prompted his being shot twice.
The robbers later sped off in their Nissan car towards Ilesa route just as traffic commotion ensued during and after the robbery.
The shot salesman was rushed to the Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, by sympathisers.
Police Public Relations Officer, Osun State Command, Mr. Joshua Olayemi, said the incident would be investigated.