Posted by By DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, Nnewi on
The death of an okada passenger at Nnewi, Anambra State allegedly caused by the police nearly set the industrial city ablaze weekend, even as police returned fire for fire.
The death of an okada passenger at Nnewi, Anambra State allegedly caused by the police nearly set the industrial city ablaze weekend, even as police returned fire for fire.
The deceased whose name was given as Ukpong from Akwa- Ibom State, a source said, was picked by an okada man around 8. 00pm that fateful night just few meters away from Nnewi Central Police Station in Nnewi North Local Government Council before the two ran into a police check point.
Saturday Sun learnt there was the usual demand for bribe which the okada man was said to have delayed in giving.
Argument ensued, during which the okada man and his passenger were knocked down. As it was in the night, Ukpong never knew there was a deep ditch close to the main road where the incident took place.
He fell into the ditch and died. But police said the two had an accident, that they (the police) were not responsible.
Although the okada man survived as he is responding to treatment at a private hospital, at dawn his members began to set bonfires protesting against police extortion.
Police kept quiet until the okada riders began to advance towards the police station, throwing missiles.
A squard from Nnewi CPS was released to checkmate the protesters. There were sporadic gunshots by the police at this point and the okada riders fled, abandoning over forty motorcycles on the road which the police allegedly impounded and took to the station.
Reacting to the incident, the Nnewi North Local Government Council Transition Committee Chairman, Hon. Francis Okeke who said the deceased's corpse was deposited at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi advised the okada riders not to destroy property in the course of their protest as such destruction, he said, would be replaced with public fund.
He assured the okada union that his council would assist them in any way possible to have an enabling environment for their business. Hon. Okeke monitored the protesters to ensure the riot did not escalate.
On his part, the chairman of the okada union in Nnewi Mr. Jude Udegbe who had earlier reported the matter to the Anambra State Commissioner of Police said his members were not quarrelling with the entire police force but the bad eggs among them.