The Plateau state police command has arrested five of its personnel attached to its C Division for allegedly shooting a 17-year-old boy, Ibuchim Ofezie, in Jos.
DSP Alfred Alabo, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Jos.In a bid to enforce the ban on operation of commercial motorcycle in the state, the personnel visited the Terminus market and started chasing those illegally operating.
In the process, they started shooting the illegal operators and a stray bullet hit Ofezie, who was sitting in his shop at the market.
He said that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Bartholomew Onyeka, who condemned the incident, said that the affected personnel would be sanctioned after proper investigation.
“The command condemned the killing of one Mr Ibuchim Ofezie, a resident of Agingi Community of Bassa Local Government Area, by some obdurate police patrol operatives attached to our “C” Division.
The Police Commissioner, who described the incident as a paradox, asserted that police officers are empowered by law to bear firearms to protect the lives of the citizenry and not to take lives with them.
“In order to ensure that the erring patrol team does not evade justice, the commissioner has immediately ordered their arrest.
“The five personnel in the patrol team have been arrested and are currently being investigated at our Homicide Section of the Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the command,” he said.
Mr Alabo said that the commissioner assured the family and friends of the deceased and indeed Plateau residents in general that the suspects would be thoroughly investigated and justice would be served.
The PPRO promised that the outcome of the investigation would be made public.
