A survivor of police shooting on Jimeta bridge in Yola, the Adamawa state capital as a result of accident which left several people dead has narrated his fierce encounter with the operatives during the Tuesday incident.
The incident was reportedly caused by police officers who were pursuing a tricycle loaded with local rice for failure to settle them at a checkpoint they mounted on the road.
An eyewitness told NEWS PLATFORM that at a time the officers were dragging with the operator, they saw a truck coming on speed and rammed on 8 tricycles known as Keke Napep, killing several people on the spot, while others sustaining injuries.
According to them, when other tricyclists saw what happened to their colleagues took to the street protesting the action of the police which caused gridlock on the the bridge for several hours.
They alleged that the officers demanded for a bribe from the Keke NAPEP operator who refused to offer them the bribe, but while trying to escape, the officers started pursuing him, as a result of which the ugly incident occurred.
Most of the residents of Vunoklang in Girei LGA who blamed the security operatives for causing the death of the victims, called for a thorough investigation into the incident and that whoever that is found to have caused the terrible incident should be prosecuted.
But narrating his encounter with the police, the victim of the shooting said he was riding on his tricycle to the town to see his uncle unknown to him that a police officer was aiming at him and that the police officer opened fire on him.
The victim, a young man and resident of Hayin Gada in Girei Local Government Area lamented that he was shot on the leg by the police and fell down on the ground in pains without any help.
But in a statement, the Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO), DSP Suleiman Yahaya Nguroje, and made available to NEWS PLATFORM today, blamed the incident on one Abubakar Ahmed, a rider of a tricycle.
The Spokesman said that the operator had a self accident as a result of busting of a tyre of his tricycle, explaining that when policemen from Central Motor Traffic Division visited the scene to render first aid treatment and clear the road from obstruction, hoodlums attacked them by throwing stones at them.
According to him, the hoodlums damaged the patrol vehicle of the Police which resulted to heavy traffic congestion, saying that there and then, a tipper with registration number KTG 12 XA lost control and hit 8 tricycles, injuring no fewer than 8 people.
He disclosed that the victims have been taken to Federal Medical Center(FMC) Yola, and now responding to treatment, adding that the command has deployed Deputy Commissioner of police in charge of Operation to scene of the incident.
He pointed out that their men were able to bring the situation under control, saying that the Commissioner of Police has directed for immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
DSP Nguroje, stressed the resolve of the Police Command to dealing with anybody found wanting, calling on the general public to desist from doing things that are the laws of the land.
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