There was pandemonium last week Sunday morning at Woji area,Obi/Akpor local Government area of Rivers State, just as tricycle drivers popularly known as keke drivers clashed with Police officers from Estate Police Division in Woji.
Trouble started when an officer simply identified as Inspector Amadi held a keke driver identified as Chibuike, alleging that he parked wrongly at YKC junction at Woji. The Keke driver had argued with the Police officer that there was no justification for his arrest him as he did not park wrongly.
An eyewitness who gave his name as Kingsley told our reporter that the said officer chased the driver with one of the Police patrol vans and allegedly knocked him down at mini Woji area which resulted in the tricycle driver sustaining serious injury.
Angered by the injuries sustained by the keke driver, his colleagues were said to have grabbed Inspector Amadi with intention of lynching him but he was lucky as re-enforcement team came almost immediately and rescued him from the clutches of the angry mob.
Our source revealed that the keke drivers protested in front of the Police Station to register their displeasure over constant harassment they pass through in the hands of the officer. The injured driver was in serious pains when our reporter visited the scene.
Meanwhile, the tricycle drivers have decried alleged extortion of their members by the Police officers in the area. They alleged that the officers make it mandatory for them to pay two thousand naira daily for no known offence and any driver who refuses to pay will be arrested and made to pay ten thousand naira at the station. They called on the Police Authorities in the state to wade into the matter.
The Public Relations Officer of Rivers State Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) did not respond to several text messages sent to his mobile line by our reporter on enquiry into the incident.
