Ika Weekly learnt that
trouble started on the fateful morning when the four mobile police officers
demanded for N200 bribe which any motorist conveying loads into the town
usually drop at the post. The source further alleged that while the J5 driver,
Mr. Okoh was on the verge of paying the offering (bribe), another driver on a
high speed avoided the officers without giving them their N200 share which he
Mr. Okoh was later asked to pay for the escaped driver, amounting to N400.
It was learnt that when he
refused to yield to the order that the officers forced him out of the bus and
started pounceding on him until he was beating merciless to an unconscious
state.
However, it was the timely
intervention of passers-by who came to
his rescue and later rushed him to the Central Hospital,
Agbor where he is currently on admission. Meanwhile, when our
correspondence visited the Central
Hospital on Wednesday to
ascertain the true state of Mr. Okoh?s health, he was said to be responding to
treatment. He was however, able to narrate the painful ordeal he went through
the hands of the policemen. According to
the driver the police officers forced him out of the driver seat when he told
them that he was not going to pay the extra money demanded from him to cover
the one not paid by the other driver adding that immediately they realized that
he was not going to accede to their demand, two of the officers fired gun shots
into the air, just to intimate him into parting with the extra amount they
demanded. He said that he was beaten until he fell unconscious adding that he
only regained consciousness after treatment was administrated on him in the
hospital.
However, efforts made to
contact the Agbor Divisional Police Officer to know if he was aware of the
matter proved abortive as he was said not to be on seat as at the time our
reporter visited his office.
Some of the drivers who
spoke to Ika Weekly complained of constant harassment from police officers at
checkpoints saying that after spending about N5,000 in most cases from Okene to
Warri nothing is left to take home. They therefore, appealed to both state and
the Federal Government to look critically into the matter so as to avoid
further dehumanizing of commercial drivers who are making their contribution to
national development.
Leave a Reply