Nigeria: 1 Feared Dead As Soldiers, Tanker Drivers Clash in Kwara

11 June 2024
Daily Trust (Abuja)
By Mumini Abdulkareem, Ilorin

A truck driver has reportedly been shot dead by a soldier at a roadblock on the Oko-Olowo highway in Ilọrin, Kwara State.

It was learnt that following the shooting on Sunday, trailer drivers in their numbers blocked the busy corridor in the night, subjecting residents and other road users to hardship.

A witness, Mr Abiola, explained that trouble started when the truck drivers and soldiers who were putting trees on the road had a disagreement.

He said, "A truck driver was coming at the time the soldiers were putting trees on the road and in the process, they had an altercation. While the driver was reversing, one of the officers fired about five shots at the truck and two of the bullets penetrated the vehicle and hit the driver on the arm and neck. The victim was rushed to the University of Ilọrin Teaching Hospital (UITH). However, we learnt that he later died from the bullet injuries."

When contacted, the Chairman of the Kwara State chapter of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Alhaji AbdulRahman Onikijipa, confirmed the incident, but added that, "It's not under our jurisdiction."

He further said, "It was between some soldiers and tanker drivers who protested the shooting of their colleague with some narration that the victim is dead."

When contacted on Monday morning, the army spokesman in Sobi, Stephen Nwankwo, said he was yet to access the scene because the place was totally blocked, adding that, "But when I am able to later, I will call you."

But an army source who spoke in confidence said, "The driver refused to stop for our officers at Jebba road and they alerted the ones at Oko Olowo. When he (the driver) got to Oko Olowo, he also refused to stop and that is how they fired him because there was an intelligent report of some people we were pursuing from Baba Shogo. We thought he was one of them or carrying ammunition. We don't know why he was running. But thank God he is alive and the army is taking care of his treatment."

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