Tanker drivers in Kano, northern Nigeria vented their anger on the Police in Kano on Monday when bribe-hungry police men on High-Way check point shot a Tanker Driver for refusing to increase their bribe from N100 to N150.
Pointblanknews.com reports that commuters along Wudil Federal High consistently complain of extortion from security agents deployed to man the route known to be a major road through which goods are transported into the far North.
Pointblanknews.com can also report that the Wudil route connects Kano with Yobe and Borno states known to be states where members of the Islamic Boko Haram sect send the mercenaries into Kano.
Authorities of the Kano state Police Command have, however, ordered for the orderly-room trial of the police officers, as the Command vowed to make sure that they face the full wrath of the law.
According to an eyewitness account, the Police flagged down the Tanker driver who was on his way to Kano and allegedly requested for a bribe, “and the Tanker driver obliged and gave them a tip of N100, but the police men insisted that the money was too small. It was at this point that argument ensued and one of the police men pulled a trigger and shot the Tanker driver on the leg,” explained an eyewitness.
Though the wounded Tanker driver was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, his colleagues besieged the High Way, blocking it for about five hours in protest.
It took the intervention of senior police officers who pleaded with the aggrieved Tanker drivers to vacate the road.
Spokesman of the Command , Assistant Superintendent of police (ASP) Musa Magaji Majia confirmed the incident to our Reporter, saying that the truck driver allegedly offered N100 which the policemen considered too small and driver came down to plead with them when suddenly the sergeant on duty fired and injured his leg.
“Once we received the signal from the area, we quickly moved in and ensured the arrest of the trigger-happy officer as well as his supervisor, an Inspector on the order of the Commissioner of Police.
“We took the injured driver to the hospital, foot his medical bill and also deployed an officer to watch over his safety while recuperating in his hospital bed.
Justice will be done as we are prepared to sacrifice those men if they fail to prove their innocence. They must be tried in line with the established order and regulations,” Majia stated.