Policemen shoot man , Precious Imade in Sapele

A trigger-happy policeman, simply called Chuks, who is from Sapele Area Command, Delta State, shot a 28 years old man called Precious Imade, over what an eyewitness called a ‘minor issue.’

Imade, who was driving his Toyota Camry along the New Road area, was said to have been hit by a truck, which resulted into a shouting match with the truck driver. The eyewitness said: “They had even settled the issue, when Chuks and three other policemen came and insisted that Imade follow them to the Police station.

 “It was when they were trying to force him into their vehicle that we heard the gunshots and Imade’s scream.”

The four policemen, scared of public reaction, took to their heels, “with Imade lying down in a pool of blood. “Word spread that he had died, but I was not sure because I saw him move before I left the scene,” the source, who was on his way to work and begged not to be named, added.

The Area Commander, ACP Mamman Rijau, who was on Sallah break, was said to have dashed down with his boys to the scene, only to find Imade still alive and he was quickly rushed to the hospital. A crowd began to protest the incident, blocking New Road, which is a major route to Shell Road and the Okirigwe Amukpe axis, burning tyres.

But soldiers came and dispersed the crowd. A source from the Sapele Police Area Command, who spoke to Vanguard, denied the young man had died. He said: “He is in the hospital, responding to treatment. The policemen involved are yet to be seen. They must have fled.”