Police operative allegedly kills commercial driver over N100 bribe

A police operative has shot dead a commercial bus driver in Anambra State, Nigeria’s South-east.

The incident occurred on Saturday in Otuocha, a community in Anambra East Local Government Area of the state.

This is happening two weeks after a police inspector, Joseph Ozonwanji, shot dead a Nigerian musician, Chikezie Okezie Mba, when he visited the Anti-Cult Unit of the Enugu State Police Command.

Sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the operative allegedly shot the driver, identified simply as Kamtochukwu after the driver refused to give a N100 bribe to a police team at a checkpoint in the area.

“The officer and the driver engaged in an intense argument, and the officer shot the driver,” a source, who asked not to be named, said.

This newspaper gathered that the operative serves at Otuocha Divisional Police Headquarters in the state.

Youths from the community were said to have assembled to attack the police team, but the personnel quickly drove off.

Police speak

When contacted on Sunday afternoon, the police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said the Police Command in the state had identified the operative as Sani Sulieman, an inspector.

“He has been disarmed and detained for further investigations and internal disciplinary procedures,” the spokesperson told this newspaper.