Tricyclist reportedly killed by security guards at checkpoint

During a confrontation with them at a checkpoint in the Dutse Uku town of Jos North Local Council in Plateau State, security officers are accused of killing a tricyclist.

The event happened on Sunday at approximately 9:00 p.m., The Guardian learned. Bartholomew Onyeka, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police (CP), visited the scene of the incident at Dutse Uku in Nasarawa Gwom to see the situation for himself, according to the Command’s spokesperson, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Alfred Alabo, who made this announcement.

He claimed that the dead trike rider was from Rikkos, which infuriated the neighborhood when word of the tragedy reached them.

The Guardian also learned that any “Keke Napep” rider operating in the area after the designated hour of 6:00 p.m. would always drop off N50 at the aforementioned check point.

It was discovered that the tricyclist’s refusal to pay the N50 sparked a dispute that concluded in his being shot, whereupon he passed away instantaneously.

Tricycle operation is prohibited in Plateau State after 6:00 p.m. Anyone caught operating one after that time will be arrested and fined according to the law.

It was unclear, however, if the victim was attempting to pass the checkpoint before the 6:00 p.m. deadline when he had the contact that took his life.

After years of racial and religious tension, the state’s governor, Simon Bako Lalong, had put up a security tower, signaling that peace had finally been restored in the neighborhood. However, hoodlums at Rikkos, also in Jos North, quickly organized, went on the rampage, and vandalized Lalong’s security tower.

The enraged youngsters who arrived in huge numbers and overcame the scant number of security guards at the checkpoint as the guards went to their heels.

Additionally, all of the mounted security sandbags were destroyed and vandalized. Alabo said that an investigation is still being conducted.