Civil defence officers shoot 20 Napep riders, many injured

About 20 Tricycle (better known as ‘Keke Napep’) operators were allegedly shot by the officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Imo State on Friday, May 8.

Report says the ‘Keke’ riders were protesting the seizure of their tricycles by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), which was impounded at the premises of the NSCDC when the corps officials opened fire on them, injuring many.

One of the victims, Chibuzo Peters, who was hit by a stray bullet told Saturday Punch that his colleagues, after an amicable resolution of the matter by the FRSC officials, were leaving the NSCDC premises when the officers started shooting sporadically.

Other injured people, who were said to be in critical conditions were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.

No death was recorded as at press time.

The NSCDC Public Relation officer in the state, Chimezirim Lowel, however denied the shooting. He said his colleagues only applied a ‘crowd dispersal technique’ to disperse the ‘keke’ riders.

“We did not shoot at anybody, we only applied our crowd dispersal technique, most of them were already forcing motorists to give them money, so when we chased them, some of them fell inside the gutter and got injured,” Lowell said.

He added that, “they had a misunderstanding with the FRSC officials, in the process they called us to help them because some of them were beaten up by the Keke boys, we only went there to save situation.”

It was learnt that the aggrieved tricycle operators grounded the state afterwards, forcing vehicular standstill.