POLICE KILLED ‘FOREIGNER’ FOR DRIVING AGAINST TRAFFIC – EYEWITNESS

A
trader who witnessed the killing of a driver, Santos Korie, by policemen in the
Mushin area of Lagos State last Thursday has said the policemen opened fire on
him because he drove against traffic.

The witness, Tayo Odunlami, told PUNCH Metro that the driver, Korie, who was
earlier described as a foreigner, but had now been properly identified as a
Nigeria, was not the sole occupant of the vehicle.

Odunlami added that his younger brother was also present.

Narrating what occurred on the fateful day, Odunlami said,
“Around 7am last Thursday, I was carrying out the weekly market sanitation at
Daleko Market when I saw a silver-coloured Toyota Highlander Sports Utility
Vehicle coming from Ilasamaja direction.

“On getting beneath the bridge and driving towards Mushin, he
noticed that there was a roadblock due to construction and he claimed he did
not know the alternative route to take so a newspaper vendor advised him to
reverse and drive against traffic, make a U-turn and then ascend the Daleko
Bridge.

“He drove against traffic and as he was about making a U-turn to
ascend the bridge, he was accosted by the policemen.

“The policemen were talking to him, but he was smiling and did
not roll down his window. The next thing I heard were four gunshots and
everyone fled. The man’s car continued to move probably because he had taken
his legs off the brakes. The vehicle then rammed into the side of the bridge,
damaging the car.”

PUNCH Metro investigations
revealed that the killer policemen were attached to the Lagos State Traffic
Management Authority.

The witness told our correspondent that the policemen, however,
came in without LASTMA officials in a commercial bus which had been seized from
its owner and then used it to carry out an illegal operation on that particular
day.

He said the surviving occupant of the vehicle had reported the
matter at Area D Command.

He said, “The policemen usually work with LASTMA under the
bridge and due to the ongoing construction, motorists are usually allowed to
drive against traffic. The policemen wanted to extort money from people that
morning. That was why they came in a commercial bus and not the LASTMA van.

“After they killed the man, they fled and some commercial
motorcycle riders chased them but they shot into the air to scare people away.
They then jumped on a motorcycle and fled.

“Meanwhile, the other occupant of the SUV came down and started
crying for help. We then advised him to go and report the matter at Area D. The
Area Commander, Omololu Bishi, arrived at the scene but by then, the man was
already dead.”

It was learnt that some foreign passports were found inside the
deceased’s vehicle, which made people to initially believe that he was a
foreigner.

However, our correspondent who visited the scene on Saturday
learnt that he was a Nigerian whose real name was Onyekachi Korie.

PUNCH Metro had
reported on Friday that two policemen, Idu and Ameh, as well as a tout, Sunday
Sylvester, had been arrested by the police and transferred to the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad.

A police source at SARS told our correspondent that the killer
policemen had written confessional statements.

The source said, “The murder was a case of police extortion that
went out of hand. However, there will be no cover up on the matter as we have
arrested both killer policemen as well as those who have been engaging on
illegal traffic duty.”

The police source told our correspondent that the suspects
confessed that they usually engaged in illegal duty between 5am and 7am.

He said, “The police suspects said they usually seized
commercial buses and then used it to extort money from people early in the
morning before LASTMA men come for morning shifts. Sylvester also confessed
that he had driven the policemen on over 10 illegal operations.

“He said after arresting traffic offenders, they would take them
to a corner and negotiate a specific amount of money and then release them. He
said offenders were never taken to LASTMA office because they would need to
register the case and by so doing, they would not make any money.”

However, the police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, had said the
killers might have been hired killers in police uniform. She, however,
confirmed that arrests had been made.

Our correspondent, who visited the Area D Command on Saturday,
saw the deceased’s vehicle with registration number, EH778FST on the premises.