A woman, Evelyn Onome Asiayei, has recounted her husband’s encounter with police that led to his unfortunate demise.

She claimed that a police man shot him when he was parking his vehicle at the checkpoint so they could collect their usual N200 bribe.

The mother of three lamented over the paain of the loss during an interview, and noted how the passengers in her husband’s Sienna fled after the shooting.

Evelyn said; “From an eyewitness account, I was told that the police men stopped him. Let me add that when we were going to the market that morning, my husband’s Toyota Sienna vehicle stopped opposite Okaka because it was having issues. According to the passenger, the police men stopped my husband because they wanted to collect N200. Before they even shot him, he was already driving past them to park.

He had already stopped and was trying to park the car. Before he could park the car, they shot him. That’s when all the passengers fled from the vehicle. One of the passengers at the front is someone who comes to the market and knows my husband. After shooting him, the police men got out of their van to check on him. They did not even carry him to the hospital. Even if the shot was a mistake, why not rush the person to the hospital immediately? They left him, got back into their van, and drove away.

I was at home when my neighbour from the market called around 8 pm on Monday, 27 May 2024. She told me that she had received a call from her customer, who patronises our Point-of-Sale business, saying that my husband had been shot.

Upon hearing this, I called for the help of my neighbours as it was already late. We contacted my neighbour’s customer to ask if my husband was still at the scene, but we were informed that he had been taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa. As we were on our way, we met one of my husband’s friends who lives on our street. He took us to FMC in his vehicle.

When I arrived at FMC, we asked at the gate, and they confirmed that someone had been rushed into the emergency ward. I immediately alighted from the car and ran towards the emergency ward, where I saw my husband’s brother. I asked him where my husband was because I had already called his elder sister to inform her. My husband’s brother told me that my husband was in the car.

When he told me this, I didn’t know how to feel. I went to the car and saw my husband inside. I asked if he had been attended to, but I was told that there was no need, as my husband was already dead. This was someone I had seen around 6 pm that day. I couldn’t understand what had happened. He couldn’t be dead just like that. That was how I received the news.”