At least four persons have been reported killed and several others injured as violent protests erupted in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, over the killing of a commercial tricycle (Keke NAPEP) driver for allegedly not producing a N100 bribe.  

Eyewitnesses told Kristina Reports that a yet-to-be-identified policeman on the morning of Thursday, December 10, 2020, allegedly shot and killed a commercial tricycle (Keke NAPEP) driver along the Airport Road in Rukpokwu in Port Harcourt leading to a pandemonium as youths besieged the streets in a violent protest.  

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They further disclosed to Kristina Reports that the fracas, which spread from Rukpokwu down to Rumuodomaya has now resulted to the destruction of several properties including shops, houses, cars, and other valuables.

The trigger-happy policeman was said to have shot at the Keke driver, killing him on the spot over his failure to provide the N100 bribe as demanded.

An eyewitness and native of Rumuodomaya Community, Precious Worlu, in a telephone interview with Kristina Reports, stated that “we got the information of what happened in Rukpokwu that a young boy called ‘Skul Boy’ or thereabout was killed by the police. And because of that some boys began to raise a protest”.

“While they were doing the protest we don’t whether it was some hoodlums or criminal elements hijacked the protest and turned it into a violent protest. They began to march down from Rukpokwu that they were going to the police station to go and attack police people or to go and burn down the police station. Those were the words that were coming out from their mouths as they were passing us.”

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According to him, in order to scare away the advancing crowd, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Rumuodomaya Division fired some bullets into the air but the youths were not deterred.  

“The Nigeria Police began to release bullets in the air to frighten them and send them back but, unfortunately, the boys did not stop. The boys were more than 2,000 in number. They continued like that to the police station.

He further disclosed that efforts by the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Rumuodomaya Division (name withheld) were abortive as the situation further degenerated into more violence at the police station.

“We also got information that the DPO requested that they should allow the boys to come so that he can address them but unfortunately on getting there they became more violent and began to attack people, destroy cars on the road and all that, smashing the windshield of vehicles. They stopped all cars from moving – no vehicle was moving on the road – they were even destroying properties along their way.”  

“On getting to the station members of the police force, I think Special Forces or so came in and intervened and began to drive the boys back. In the process they began to shoot in the air to drive them away but they would not go away.”

Worlu said the policemen took away the corpse of the three dead youths who were shot by their men in their police vans.

“And in the process they shot some boys and some boys died in the process of the shooting. We don’t have the accurate statistics of the number of persons that were killed but, at least, the ones we witnessed, the ones that we saw around the first transformer junction in Rumuodomaya and around the OCC Company around Rumuodomaya, they were about three boys. They (policemen) carried them and put in the police van.”

He, however, said that calm has returned to the area as at the time of this report.

Kristina Reports was yet to get the reaction of the Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, SP Nnamdi Omoni as calls to his mobile line were not answered or returned as at the time of this report.

Recall that last October witnessed widespread protests across Nigeria over the excesses of the Police including extra-judicial killings, human rights violations and impunity by the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) forcing the President to order the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to disband the notoriously rogue unit.

Also recall that one of the incidences that sparked the nationwide protests was the outrage in Port Harcourt, Rivers State over the alleged extra-judicial killing of a 20-year old upcoming musician, Chibuike Daniel Dominic, alias ‘Sleek’ by trigger-happy operatives of the controversial SARS.