PROTESTING DRIVERS BLOCK OKENE ABUJA HIGHWAY AFTER POLICE KILL CONDUCTOR OVER N100 BRIBE

Protest erupted Wednesday night after a police officer allegedly shot a lorry conductor to death at a checkpoint in Ozara village in Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State.

A witness, who gave his name as Bashiru, told PREMIUM TIMES that the incident occurred at about 10pm after a lorry conductor refused give a N100 bribe.
Bashiru, a truck driver, said the trigger-happy policeman demanded for bribe from the driver of the truck, and the driver, in turn, asked his conductor if there was N100 with him to settle the policeman.
According to the witness, when the conductor said he had none, the police officer asked him to alight from the vehicle, and then shot him dead on the spot.
Sources said after the shooting, truckers – numbering more than a hundred – plying the highway barricaded the road since 10pm Wednesday night.
The truckers barricaded the only way linking North to West and Eastern parts of Nigeria.
“As at last count, more than a hundred truck drivers are participating in the protest on the Lagos Okene Abuja road,” one witness said.

Bashiru said he and his colleagues would not vacate the route until authorities decisive action stopping uniformed men on the road from collecting bribes.
Reports said the divisional police officer in charge of Okene area visited the scene of the incident on Thursday morning and explained to the protesters that the policeman who shot the conductor had been detained.
The spokesperson for the Kogi State Police Command could not be reached for comments Thursday morning.