Drunken cop kills colleague, self on duty!

FROM JOE EFFIONG & AMAOWO UDOFIA, UYO

Hell was let loose on Sunday evening when one of the mobile policemen guarding the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Uyo branch ran amok killing two persons including himself while injuring several others. Daily Sun learnt that the mobile policeman had gone out and returned drunk but demanded for his rifle, which was denied him due to his drunken state, but he forced his way into the armoury, seized a rifle with 30 live ammunition and started firing at random.

It was gathered that the policeman killed his colleague, who tried to prevent him from gaining access into the armoury before firing at two other policemen, Ibok and Muhammed, on duty.
Apart from the police casualty, it was gathered that one Ubong Udosen, who works in the electrical/technical department of the CBN was hit by the assailant’s bullet.
Unconfirmed report has it that the drunk policeman might not have killed himself as the police authorities claim, rather he might have been shot dead by some of his colleagues when he became uncontrollable and was considered a serious security risk.

It was not, however, clear whether it was his colleagues on duty on the CBN premises that silenced him or men from the security outfit in the state code-named Robot, who were attracted by the sporadic gunshots at the bank. It was learnt they helped in bringing sanity to the premises.

The two injured policemen, one of whom was shot in the crotch, were successfully operated upon in a private hospital along Ben Udo Street, Uyo. Daily Sun learnt that they were responding to treatment.
But the case of Udosen was still critical as at 4.00pm yesterday, as he could not talk or move any of his limbs and had to be tube-fed.
Our correspondent learnt that they were initially rushed to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital but were not given immediate attention. The team had to take them to a private clinic, which mortuary the corpses of the two policemen were equally deposited.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Onyeka Orji, when contacted said the matter was being investigated.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, who equally confirmed the incident, however said it was a case of accidental discharge, which was promptly brought under control. He said the command had even informed the IGP of the incident.