There was tension on Thursday at the Delta Steel Company (DSC) Permanent Camp in the Udu Local Government Area of Delta State as a vigilante man allegedly shot an Okada man dead.
An angry mob, in the process, descended on a police patrol van, setting it ablaze with the belief that the pellet that killed the deceased came from one of the policemen.
Witnesses said the police operatives were in a joint stop-and-search operation with vigilantes at Orhuwhorun Police Post around Free Indeed Church Junction at DSC Township in Udu when the incident happened.
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They said further mayhem would have followed the mob action, but for the swift dispatch of a combined military and police operatives to the area who restored normalcy.
The incident occurred at about 10:00 a.m on Thursday, as reports claimed that the deceased was shot dead by a vigilante while others alleged that the police shot him over his alleged refusal to part with N100 bribe.
In a statement by the Chairman, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (Cdhr) Delta State Chapter, Comrade Edariese Peter, he also alleged that the police killed the Okada rider for refusing to be extorted.
“The above is an incident that took place this morning in a police roadblock by DSC permanent camp gate where the police and vigilante group usually mount their roadblocks every morning and evening.
“The incident was as a result of the failure and/or refusal of the rider to pay the usual N100 ‘marching’ to the police as a daily tax to poor road users in the state.
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“In the process, the police patrol vehicle was burnt down by angry Nigerians who witnessed the dastardly killing of the Nigerian.
“Please take note and take steps as appropriate,” Comrade Peter noted in the letter forwarded to the Delta Police Command.
But reacting to the killing and bribery allegations, Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bright Edafe, told our correspondent that the Okada man was shot dead by a vigilante and not a policeman over extortion.
According to him, the vigilante, who shot the Okada rider dead, has been arrested, in police custody and treated in the hospital after the mob had descended on him, adding that he was yet to be briefed on the actual cause of the incident.
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“It was a vigilante that shot the Okada rider not a policeman as being alleged. We’ve arrested him and now in our custody after he was treated in the hospital because he was almost clubbed to death by the mob,” Edafe told our correspondent on phone.
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