A company driver attached to a transport outfit, Vintage Transport and Logistics located in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Moruf Haruna, has died after he was allegedly brutalised by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), in the Abaji area of Kogi State, Punch reports.
It was gathered that the 40-year-old Haruna, was stopped for a search by the anti-drug agency at a checkpoint by seven officers of the agency and during an altercation, the officers manhandled the man with one of them kicking him in the stomach, resulting in his death.
Haruna’s conductor identified as Matthew, said that they were on their way to Jos, Plateau State, when the sad incident happened.
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“We were going to Jos around 5am on Saturday, July 2. The NDLEA officers were seven and their leader held a gun. Others held clubs. One of them stopped our truck and we tried to park by the roadside. While doing that, he hurled insults at us.
When my boss (Haruna) came down, the officer first beat him with a club. My boss told him there was no reason for the abuse as we were carrying lawful goods. The officer got angry and kicked him in the stomach.
He fell and the officer marched on his stomach. It was when they noticed he was not moving that they decided to rush him to a hospital.
He died in Jos on Monday around 4am. I am still at the hospital as an autopsy will be conducted on him.”
The Managing Director, Vintage Transport and Logistics, Lekan Akinkiitan, said Haruna had worked with the company for 10 years before the tragedy.
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Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said Haruna tried to resist the officers from carrying out their lawful duties and in the process, he sustained injuries during the search.
Ofoyeju added that after first-aid treatment was given to the driver, he was discharged and the agency had not been briefed that he had died.
