The Commissioner of Police in Abia, Mr Ene Okon, on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of one Richard Eke, an operative of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for allegedly killing a motorist at a checkpoint in Aba.
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Okon said that he had directed his men to transfer the NSCDC operative to the state’s police command headquarters in Umuahia for diligent investigation.
The commissioner warned security operatives to be mindful of the way they used guns entrusted to them, stressing that if Eke was found culpable after investigations, the police would arraign him for murder.
A man, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba on condition of anonymity that Eke shot and killed, Amobi Igwe, a transporter at a checkpoint at Umu-Ikea community in the Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia.
The source said that Igwe, a native of Ishiagu in the Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi was a transporter, who made his living driving from Ishiagu to Aba all the time to deliver goods for Ishiagu residents in Aba.
According to the source, Eke shot the transporter in the head, killing him on the spot.
The source said that Igwe was coming to Aba with a consignment of rice ordered by the Catholic Church in Aba when he met his death.
“He was supposed to observe the lockdown but because some reverend fathers of the Catholic Church in Aba had ordered consignments of rice for the poor in the church, he decided to come with the load.
“But on reaching Umu-Ikea junction, the NSCDC personnel stopped him and demanded money.
“Before anybody knew what was happening, he shot Igwe in the head in broad day light. Igwe’s body has been deposited in the mortuary.
“The only passenger in the vehicle with him would also have been killed but the passenger was lucky.
The source disclosed that after killing the motorist, Eke ran into a police station at Umu-Ikea Junction, where he was taken into custody in his attempt to escape mob action.
An officer at the NSCDC, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the development, said that NSCDC operatives were at the checkpoint to enforce the COVID-19 lockdown when the incident happened.
He said that the motorist approached the checkpoint without stopping and that in his bid to pass the checkpoint in a haste, he brushed an NSCDC personnel, resulting to the personnel shooting him at point-blank range.