Funny But Sad! Drama As Soldiers Shoot Policemen Chasing Yahoo Yahoo Boy In Festac Lagos

Vigilant soldiers who had been
stationed at 7th Avenue Festac,
Lagos State, fighting pipeline
vandals since Monday,
yesterday, shot dead two
civilians and injured two
policemen. One of the soldiers
was also injured in the
shooting.
The shooting spree happened
moment after the soldiers
received message to be at alert
that robbers had attempted to
rob Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB),
on 23th Avenue and that
another set had attacked banks
at Agbara, Ogun State.
Following the clash with vandals
on Monday, the soldiers had
placed a barrier on the road;
the barrier was to show that the
area was a high security risk
area and drivers were expected
to slow down. The victims of
yesterday shooting, however,
refused to slow down at the
barrier even after the soldiers
repeatedly ordered them to
stop.
Thinking they were criminals,
the soldiers started shooting at
them. When the smoke from the
guns cleared, two civilians had
been killed, two policemen and
a soldier wounded. The incident
occurred around 10:30pm. The
civilian driver died instantly and
a stray bullet killed another
civilian who was eating noodles
not far from the scene.
Two policemen were seriously
injured. One was shot in the
buttock and another on the
knee. The soldiers so sprayed
bullets that expended hundreds
of ammunition littered the
ground. Two police vehicles
were shattered and perforated
with bullets. One of the bullets
bounced off a police van and hit
one of the soldiers on the chest.
The wounded were rushed to a
nearby hospital, but rejected.
They were referred to Lagos
University Teaching Hospital
(LUTH), Idi-Araba. A police
source said: “Surveillance men
were on patrol. They sighted a
Honda car. They thought the
driver was a ‘yahooyahoo’ guy.
The policemen were in a
commercial bus as against the
instruction of the Inspector
General of Police (IG).
“The policemen flagged the
Honda driver down, but he
refused to heed. The policemen
started chasing him, up to 7th
Avenue where the joint team of
soldiers and policemen were
stationed.
There was a barrier on the road
to slow down vehicles. The
Honda driver and the policemen
in commercial bus refused to
stop.”
It was further gathered that the
Honda driver apparently drove
towards the soldiers, thinking
they would protect him from
people in the commercial bus
that were chasing him. When
the Honda driver and
commercial bus refused to stop,
the soldiers opened fire.
The state Police Public
Relations Officer (PPRO), Joe
Offor, confirmed the incident,
which he described as an act of
omission rather than
commission.
[Reported By The Nation
Online]