Following the killing of a taxi driver, popularly known as Oyigbo by an overzealous mobile police officer at Rumuokoro last weekend, the drivers’ association in Rivers State has planned to shut down operations from 6:00am on Monday.
After a meeting involving the family of the driver, the drivers’ association, and human rights groups, the drivers are demanding that the police produce the killer officer, prosecute him and provide for the family (wife and a four-months old baby) of the driver.
Spokesman of the Coalition of Civil Society organizations in Rivers State, Green Isaac in an interview with Nigeria Info Port Harcourt, said that the demonstration was aimed at showing their displeasure about the incident at the weekend. He said the shutdown will continue until the police names the mobile officer that committed the crime. “Injury to one is injury to all. We want to register our displeasure on Monday, from 6:00am till the police and authorities involved do something about this – until they name the culprit, prosecute him, and also go to a length where they have to take care of the family.”
The drivers’ association had issued a 48 hours ultimatum to the Rivers Police Command on Monday to provide the officer. They threatened to take severe action which “the police and the general public will feel its impact.” The Rivers State Police Command through its Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni said it was working to apprehend the officer and bring him to justice. He cited the case of Ifeanyi Dike, a suspected cultist and ritualist who escaped from police custody after being arrested for murder. Ifeanyi was later apprehended by the Jos command and repatriated to Rivers State to face justice. But one would expect that the arrest, or at the least, identification of a police officer in the Nigeria Police Force will be more efficient than a criminal on the run.
