Thousands of commuters were on Friday left stranded for hours on both sides of the Kaduna –Abuja highway after drivers of articulated vehicles blocked the road to protest the alleged killing of one of them by a policeman.
Abdul Liman, the driver of Peugeot J5 with registration number KTN – 180XQ, was killed for allegedly refusing to give the policeman a N1000 bribe.
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Ali Aji Janga ordered a full scale investigation into the matter and pledged that the suspect would be prosecuted.
The co-driver of the Peugeot J5 Ali Dan-Zaria, told NAN that they were conveying rice from Katsina to Abuja, when they were stopped by the police.
There were three people in the vehicle when the incident occurred according to Dan-Zaria, the driver, co-driver and a young boy of about 20 years.
He said that they were stopped at about 5:30 AM, a few kilometres away from Olam Hatchery when one of the police officers demanded N1000 from them.
“I offered to give N200 which he refused to collect. I added another N200, but he still refused and insisted that I must give him N1000.
“Then his colleague stood in front of the windscreen and pointed his gun at us.
“I was still negotiating with theofficer who demanded the N1000 when I heard a gunshot and my colleaguescreamed, saying “they have killed me, they have killed me.
“I turned and saw my boss, blood gushing out from his head, where the bullet hit him. I immediately came out of the vehicle and asked ‘who killed my boss?’
“The one who did it immediately ran and disappeared into the bush, while the remaining ones quickly entered their vehicle and zoomed off,” he said.
Dan-Zaria said that within a few minutes, the scene was filled with sympathizers and immediately the road was blocked to prevent commuters from plying the road.
The Deputy Chairman, Tanker Drivers Association, Kaduna State, Malam Musa Danazumi, told NAN that the road was blocked to draw the attention of security agencies and government officials.
“We decided to block the road to seek justice for our colleague who was killed for no reason by police officers who were supposed to protect us from harm.
“We insisted that no vehicle will move until Governor Nasir El-Rufai or the state’s Commissioner of Police come to the scene and give us his words to bring the culprit to book,” Danazumi said.
It took the efforts of Colonel I. B. Gambari, the officer-in-charge of operations on the expressway to calm the situation and convinced the transport union officials to open the road.
Gambari promised the union officials that he would assist to ensure that the incident was documented and action taken by the police.
The union gave in to his plea and allowed the road to be cleared at around 11: 10 PM.
This was after agreeing to hand over the corpse of the victim to his family for burial, while Gambari and the union officials would see the commissioner of police for necessary action.
Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement on behalf of the government, regretted the development.
He said: “In the early hours of today, a group of drivers blocked the Kaduna-Abuja Road to protest the killing of their colleague by a policeman.
“The loss of life is deeply regretted. The Kaduna State Government commiserates with the family of the deceased driver and has directed that the police will thoroughly investigate the incident.
“However, grief and a sense of loss do not justify imposing such pains on other citizens as the protesting drivers have done by blocking a very busy public highway. They have left many people stranded for several hours and caused considerable distress.
“The Kaduna State government apologises to road users for the inconveniences caused by the hours-long blockade.
“The road has since been opened and the protesting drivers cleared. However, the standstill created by the blockage has resulted in a gridlock that will take hours to clear. The queue of stranded vehicles stretches for several kilometres.
“Therefore, the state government appeals to all persons traveling on the Kaduna-Abuja highway to patiently cooperate with efforts to clear the gridlock.”
Police Commissioner Ali Aji Janga directed a full scale investigation into the matter and assured the public that the police personnel involved in the killing would be prosecuted accordingly.
The Police Command described the incident as unfortunate saying: “the Commissioner of Police CP Ali A. Janga has already defaulted the NCO involved in the incident as a preliminary disciplinary measure and he will be tried accordingly.
“He further directed for a full investigation into the circumstances of the killing.”
“The CP commiserated with the family of the deceased and assured them and members of public that the Command will ensure that justice is done on the matter.
“The Command therefore calls for calm and pleads with the drivers’ unions not to take law into their hands by causing road blockade as such measure will only add difficulty to the public,” he urged.
The blockade of the highway also left many other travellers stranded at the Jabi, Utako and Mabushi Motor Parks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
A Kano bound passenger, Miss Hadiza Abubakar said she arrived the Utako Park around 9 AM and for more than three hours waited without getting a vehicle.
Abubakar, who is a Youth Corps member serving in Abuja , said she planned spending the Sallah break with her family in Kano. “I used to pay N3,000 to Kano but today I was told that the price is now N5,000 and we the passengers are ready to pay.
“But as you can see, there is even no vehicle on ground but we are waiting patiently because we have to travel.”
Another passenger, Mr Gambo Yargaya, a civil servant, also decried insufficient vehicles at the park and prayed something was done about it for the benefit of passengers.
Although there were passengers waiting for vehicles to travel to Kaduna at the Mabushi Park, the fare remained N1, 500 as it had always been.
At the Jabi Park, Miss Agnes Jacob, a student said her family stayed in Kano and she wanted to travel for the Sallah break to be with them but there was no vehicle.
Jacob said “I came to the park since8 AM. but since I came, no vehicle has been provided for us to travel, but we are still hopeful.”
