Read What Nigerian Police Did to a Bribe- seeking Officer Who Hijacked a Truck and Killed a Man in Oyo
A traffic warden identified as Emmanuel Fagbemi, was on Monday, arraigned by the Oyo State Police Command before a Magistrate’s court in Oyo Town for driving dangerously and for causing the death of Jamiu Ojetunde after he hijacked a truck at a checkpoint.
Premium Times reported that the officer and other officers of the Area Traffic office of the Nigeria Police, were on duty around Hollywood along Durbar-Akinmoorin expressway on Saturday when they flagged down a pick-up truck loaded with firewood and some passengers.
It was gathered that the police officers asked why the driver was endangering lives by allowing people to sit on top of the firewood.
He was asked to drop them all off at the check point. Speaking to a correspondent, Muideen Olagunju, a lawmaker in the Oyo State House of Assembly, said when asked for the vehicle papers, the driver had none.
The police then asked him to drive to the police station which was not up to 1 kilometer away but he refused. One witness, Iyabo Makinde, said the driver’s refusal to yield to demand, understood as an attempt to compel him to bribe the officers, infuriated one of the wardens, identified as Fagbemi.
The driver reportedly explained that he was returning from the farm and had no money.
Police said Fagbemi commandeered the truck, and attempted to drive it to the police
station.
He lost control midway, and ran the vehicle into a pole. The truck flipped and killed one person. Another person who was injured later died the following morning at the hospital, residents said.
The Magistrate granted Fagbemi bail with two sureties, one of whom must be a civil servant on Grade Level 9. Also speaking to a
correspondent, the Oyo police spokesperson, Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed that Fagbemi faced orderly room trial just immediately the accident happened, adding that the Commissioner of Police had received the report of the orderly trial and was reviewing it. But the outcome of the orderly trial is that Fagbemi be dismissed, while other officers on duty be demoted by
one rank.
A counsel to Fagbemi said he had already been dismissed, meaning the Commissioner already upheld the recommendation of the orderly room trial.
