The Rivers State Police Command has ruled the killing of a bus driver by an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) as a case of accidental discharge.

 

The bus driver popularly known as “Biggie” was killed by the NSCDC official attached to the Rivers State Taskforce on Street Trading and Illegal Motor Park.

The situation led to commercial bus drivers’ protest, causing pandemonium around the Ozuoba-NTA/Ada George Road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

It was learnt that the deceased driver was carrying passengers along Ada George Road when a vehicle conveying officials of the task force attempted to overtake him.

An eye witnesses said in the process of struggling to overtake him, the task force operatives hit the commercial vehicle.

 

A driver who narrated what transpired said:

“I was driving behind him when it happened. The task force members blocked him at Omega, that he didn’t pack well but the driver argued with them and drove off but they followed him and blocked him at NTA here and while the argument continued the civil defence man just shot him and when they noticed he had died they fled the scene.”

According to some of the commercial drivers, the police arrived at the scene of the protest and started shooting into the air in order to disperse protesting drivers and open up the road.

An eye witness, Agnes Akpan, told newsmen that the driver, whose name was not ascertained as of the time of filing this story, blocked the task force vehicle with his car and insisted that they fix his car which was damaged when their vehicle hit his own.

“The driver further called on some of his colleagues, who immediately joined him to demand repairs of his vehicle, but as the task force and NSCDC officials refused to accede to their demand, an NSCDC operative, who was trapped in the pandemonium shot the driver and continued shooting sporadically in the air to scare the rampaging drivers”, she said

Nnamdi Omoni, the public relations officer of the command said the command was investigating the incident to unravel what transpired between the deceased and the suspect.

He said that mobile Police Officers have been sent to the area to restore sanity.