Cop killed during youths protest in Ekiti police station

A protest by youths who invaded the Ado Central Police Divisional Headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has resulted in the death of a policeman.

The cop, whose name has yet to be ascertained, was said to have been shot in the leg and bled to death.

The protesters claimed the policeman was hit by a stray bullet from a gun fired by one of his colleagues trying to disperse them with tear gas and gunshots fired into the air.

But police said an investigation had been launched to unravel who shot the policeman, adding that the invaders were armed.

Sunday PUNCH learnt that youths numbering over 20 had besieged the police formation on Friday, chanting war songs over the killing of a motorcyclist in an accident.

They accused the police of refusing to release the corpse and a sum of N470,000 paid to the family of the deceased by the driver.

A source told our correspondent that the family had demanded the money to enable them to transport the corpse to their hometown for burial.

The source said, “When the police failed to release the corpse and the money to the family of the deceased person, the relatives stormed the police station and demanded that the corpse and the money should be released.

“But sensing that the protest was becoming violent, the police fired teargas canisters and gunshots to scare them. In the process, a stray bullet hit a policeman in the leg. The policeman bled to death in a hospital he was rushed to.”

But the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Sunday Abutu, said on Saturday that it was hasty and wrong to say policemen fired the shot that killed the cop. Punch