bus driver beaten to death by Policewoman over bribe

There was tension on Monday at Igando area of Lagos as the news of the beating to death of a mid­dle-aged commercial bus driv­er by a female police corporal over alleged refusal to part with N500 bribe, was broken.

The incident occurred in front of Igando Police Station on a day the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase was in Lagos for the two-day work­ing visit by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo.

reports gath­ered that the police corporal, whose identity is still being kept secret by the authorities, allegedly beat up and killed the driver, identified as Muy­iwa Ijaduola on Sunday night while controlling traffic at the Igando bus-stop located about 20 meters away from the sta­tion.

The corporal attached to the Igando Police Division was said to have attempted to compel the driver to part with the “usual money” for the po­lice, but he refused and this resulted in his untimely death by beating.

Police sources disclosed that the corporal dragged the driver down from the bus and used her baton to beat him to a pulp in the full glare of her colleagues.

It was learnt that while the police officer was beating the driver, the victim attempted to protect his head with his hands but unfortunately he slipped, hit­ting same on the tarred ground.

Another eyewitness said the policewoman stopped the de­ceased in front of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpora­tion (NNPC) bus stop demand­ing N500 as part of her settle­ment.

The source said the driver explained that he was just re­suming work for the day and didn’t have enough money on him. But the police officer in­sisted that he must give the money as she was about to close from work.

He said the corporal, who was angry that the driver was defiant, began to hit him with her baton, forcing him out of the bus.

“It was in the process that he slipped and died. Immedi­ately the corporal noticed that he had stopped breathing, she fled from the scene,” narrated the eyewitness.

Following the death of the driver, his colleagues and their conductors, as well as sympa­thisers, took to the streets to protest the murder and caused a traffic jam in the area.

it was gath­ered that the corpse had been deposited in the morgue as at Monday Afternoon.

It was further gathered that the police had already invited the family members to the sta­tion for a meeting with the Di­visional Police Officer (DPO).

The rampaging mob report­edly caused pandemonium in the area.

Eyewitnesses told Reporters that it took the com­bined efforts of soldiers and po­lice to restore peace in the area and ease the traffic logjam.

The state police command’s reaction could not be obtained as text messages and phone calls put to the Acting Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Chukwuma Ozoani, were not replied.