Prowling for Bribe Led A Police to Killing A Pregnant Woman!

Who will separate Police from ‘egunje’ (bribe)? This was a remark by an observer in Ibadan following the death of a pregnant woman early that morning at the popular Agodi Gate, one of the oldest garages in the Oyo State capital.

 

It was a classical manifestation of the Biblical phrase that there is only a step between death and life. Perhaps, just a minute delay or otherwise in the life of the about 30-year old lady could have made the difference; a difference that could have meant her living beyond that day. But that was not to be due to greed and covetousness of those being paid to protect and secure the life and property of the citizens.

 

Eyewitness account told our reporter that the commuter bus was coming from Iwo Road and was apparently heading towards Molete when the driver was flagged down by a policeman for the usual extortion. But, the driver, claiming that it was too early in the day for the engagement, refused to stop.

 

Determined to make the driver cough out an unspecified amount of money at all cost, the policeman was said to have started struggling for the steering with the driver who in the process, lost control as well as concentration, following which the bus hit one of the stationary cabs scouting for passengers. The impact saw the cab moving forward forcefully. Unfortunately, it was at the time the pregnant woman was passing in front of the cab and that was how she was hit and her too legs badly damaged immediately.

 

It was gathered that sympathizers rushed her to the University College Hospital (UCH), a short distance from the scene of the incident, but, she gave up the ghost before any medication could administered on her.

 

At the spot of the incident, where the slippers won by the woman and her Islamic rosary were found, there was blood in large quantity, an indication that the deceased might have suffered loss of blood.

 

Following the ugly development, members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), youths and traders in the place mobilized in large number and stormed the Agodi Divisional Police Station, where the suspect was serving with the aim of vandalizing the station and possibly setting it ablaze.

 

Initially, the policemen on duty at the station threatened the mob not to come near, but, when it became obvious that their threat could not yield any positive result as the mob continued to surge forward, a situation considered dangerous to both the police and the entire station, they began to shoot into the air and also released canisters of teargas which ultimately dispersed the protesters as they ran in different directions. To guard against the people re-grouping to cause havoc, messages were sent to other police divisions within the state capital who responded with police vans and personnel which eventually doused the tension.

 

However, in a twist of event, the police authorities in the state, through the Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Ignatius Inyang denied any culpability by any of its members in the incident. Describing the eyewitness account as mere speculation, he said the bus driver was running away from the officials of the Gate Unit of NURTW, who had stopped him to collect from him the union’s dues and in the process hit the woman.

 

Another eyewitness, Tairu Akande, however insisted that the police version of the story was nothing, challenging the police authorities to explain the circumstances that led to the protesters storming their station after the incident. “It is not their fault; if the station had been razed with one or two of them in the hospital, the rogues in uniform would not be telling broad daylight lie”, he noted.