Policeman Hit By ‘Stray Bullet’ Dies In Ekiti

The Ekiti State Police Command has confirmed the death of an officer who reportedly died during a protest organised by youths inside a police station in the state.

The State Police spokesperson, Sunday Abutu, confirmed this to newsmen stating that the protest started over the killing of a motorcyclist by a driver.

Angry youths had reportedly invaded Ado central police divisional headquarters in the state capital to protest the killing and in a bid to disperse them, a policeman was reportedly shot dead.

Their anger was tied to the seizure of the corpse of the motorcyclist and N470,000 the driver paid to the family of the deceased.

A witness said: “When the police failed to release the corpse and the money allegedly collected from the driver to the family of the deceased person, the relatives stormed the police station in protest and demanded that the corpse and the money be released.

“Sensing that the protest was becoming violent, the police fired teargas and gunshots to scare them. In the process, stray bullets hit a policeman in the leg, who later bled to death.”

Confirming the incident, Abutu said the protest started when the youths heard that only N150,000 was to be paid to the bike owner.

“It was true that the police allowed the driver and the deceased’s family to negotiate and the driver agreed to pay a sum of N440,000, which had been paid to the family of the deceased.

“But out of that money, it was agreed that a sum of N150,000 should be paid to the bike owner. It was this the protesters heard and stormed the police station in anger that our men were trying to cheat them. The owner of the motorcycle has not even been paid at all.

“As they were brandishing dangerous weapons and requesting that the detainee be released to them, the police fired teargas canisters to scare them.

“But to the police’s surprise, they saw that gunshots were coming from different directions and one of our men was hit in the process and died. It was hasty and wrong that it was the police that fired the shot that killed one of them. We are still investigating,” he said.