Tony Osauzo, Benin
Four officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Edo State have reportedly beaten a passenger to death for allegedly preventing them from extorting the driver of the car he was travelling in.
Already, two of the officers identified as Francis Igboh and Samson Alolade are police net on allegation of murder, while their colleagues in crime, Sunday Ogi and Joseph Onolade, are said to be at large. All four operatives were said to be serving at Abudu outpost the FRSC in the state.
The deceased passenger whose name was given as Odion Omafo Samuel, 36, was said to have chattered an Audi 80 car and was travelling in it when the embattled FRSC personnel flagged it down at Okhuaihe Hill, Agbor Road in Edo on Monday, October 14, 2019.
It was learnt that deceased passenger was said to have aided his driver resist alleged extortion attempt by the FRSC officers.
The ensuing altercation between the officers and the passenger reportedly paved the way for the driver to flee from the scene, leaving the passenger at the mercy of the enraged FRSC operatives, who allegedly descended on and chased him to a nearby bush where they beat him to death.
They were said to have abandoned the corpse and fled in their official vehicle.
The driver of the Audi car with whom the late Samuel was travelling, was said to have gone to inform his (passenger’s) relatives, who accused him of kidnapping and handed him over to the police in Abudu.
Police investigation, it learnt, led to the arrest of two of the FRSC officers who took investigators to the bush where the decomposing body was evacuated on Thursday, October 17, 2019.
It was gathered that the suspects in their statements accused the deceased passenger of snatching their booking tickets.
Meanwhile, the Head of Abudu outpost of the FRSC, was reportedly invited and quizzed yesterday by investigators at the police command headquarters, Benin City, following the statements given by his embattled officers.
Confirming the incident, spokesman for the Edo State Police Command, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, ”Our operatives in the homicide section of the State Criminal and Intelligence Investigation Department (SCIID), police headquarters, Benin City are investigating the case. It is a case of murder”.