A student of Delta State Polytechnic, Sofia Oghogho, has been allegedly shot dead by a policeman identified as Sergeant Abua, who is attached to the Igbuzo Police Division, in Delta State.
Also shot by Abua, at a checkpoint in the community, was a civil servant, Victor Emeagwai.
The victims were in a Toyota Corolla, driven by an estate agent, Jerry Akinlabi, when the incident happened.
Oghogho and Emeagwai were Akinlabi’s girlfriend and friend, respectively.
Punch newspaper reports that a team of five policemen, including Abua, had flagged down Ogogo at a checkpoint along Igbuzo Market.
One of the policemen, identified as Nwokolo, was said to have demanded money from Akinlabi and the driver told him that he did not have N200 to give him.
Nwokolo reportedly said he would take one of the N1,000 notes Jerry had on him.
As Akinlabi drove off from the checkpoint, Abua reportedly shot at the car and bullets pierced the back of the vehicle, hitting Oghogho, who sat at the back seat.
The bullet also grazed the back of Emeagwai, who was at the passenger’s seat.
Akinlabi told our correspondent that four cops, including the team leader, one ASP Akhabue, were detained by the police, while Abua evaded arrest.
He said, “On Sunday, November 17, 2017, I was driving to the Igbuzor Market and on getting to a checkpoint, I met the policemen. We knew one another some months ago when I had an issue concerning a property at the station. I sounded the horn to greet them, but they did not respond.
“One of them used his gun to hit the boot and I reversed. He said I wanted to beat the checkpoint. I told him that I assumed that they knew me very well and apologised. He demanded money. I wanted to give him N100 or N200, but it was N1,000 notes I had on me and I explained to him.
“He said, ‘Am I too small to collect N1,000?’ When I declined to give him N1,000, he asked me to pull over, which I did. As the argument over N1,000 got heated, I entered my car and drove off. What I heard next was three gunshots aimed at my car.
“A bullet pierced into the car, hit my girlfriend’s body, came out and hit my friend in the back.”
The 22-year-old indigene of Oyo State said he took the victims to a general hospital in Igbuzo, from where Oghogho was referred to the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba before she died.
He said he called a senior police officer at Asaba who notified the state Commissioner of Police of the incident.