Policeman allegedly kills 16-year-old boy in Lagos

Woman dies in Aba as female soldier drags gun with truck pusher

Tragedy has befallen the family of Uzor Chukwu in Lagos, as their son identified as Emmanuel was reportedly killed by a policeman at the weekend. Emmanuel, a 16-year-old student of Randle Secondary School Apapa, whose parents hail from Ebonyi State, was hit by a stray bullet from one of the policemen attached to Badia police station during a fracas.
 
The deceased, third in the family of five, was standing in front of their residence at No. 7, Fadaini Street, Ijora Badia when the sad incident occurred at about 8:00a.m. on Sunday. It was gathered that the policemen, who shot sporadically were trying to repel some youths that had stormed the police station to demand the release of a suspected child kidnapper rescued from them.
 
According to sources, the youths had apprehended a woman who had kidnapped a five-year-old girl at Giwa Street and attempted to lynch her. She was rescued from the mob by policemen and taken to the station, an act said to have angered the youths. They later mobilised themselves and threatened to attack the station, hauling stones at the policemen.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Chike Oti, who spoke on telephone said he was not aware of the incident and promised to call back, which he was yet to do as at the time of filing the report.

Meanwhile, a female soldier attached to the Ngwa High School Forward Operation Base (FOB) whose name is yet to be identified has reportedly killed a woman at Osisioma junction leading to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot, off Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway.

The woman, whose name was yet to be known at the time of filing this report, died at the spot having her body riddled with bullets. Sources around the area said the woman who was said to be mentally derailed, was caught by bullets while the soldier was dragging her gun with a truck pusher.

A source at Osisioma, simply identified as Wisdom, narrating how bullets from the soldier’s rifle killed the woman, said it was an incident that he wished not to have witnessed. According to him, the scuffle between the female soldier and the truck pusher threw the environment into pandemonium as the sound of the gun, which rented the air attracted other soldiers to the scene, forcing people to abandon their cars and tricycles on the expressway.

“The female soldier told the truck pusher to take another route, but the truck pusher refused to heed to the instructions of the soldier. The soldier at that point pushed the truck pusher who then charged at the soldier. The gun, which had already been corked by the soldier in an apparent move to scare the truck pusher away rented the air and in the process, attracted other soldiers to the scene.

“The woman because of her mental state couldn’t run to safety when the incident was going on. She was in the process hit by several bullets while the man was dragging the gun with the soldier. The man was later whisked away into the Ngwa High School base of the Nigerian Army while the body of the dead woman was also taken alongside with them.”

Another source who witnessed the incident questioned why the truck pusher would engage in open confrontation with a gun-wielding soldier and called on the army authorities in the state to initiate investigation into the incident. This is even as he suggested that they (army) should reach out to the families of the bereaved to assuage their pains.
Authorities of the 144 Battalion and 14Brigade were yet to issue official statement over the incident at the time of filing this report.