Residents protest in Bayelsa as police officer allegedly kills driver over N100

Protest rocked Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Thursday, May 30 following a police officer’s allegedly killing of a commercial cab driver over N100 bribe.

The driver simply identified as Binalayefa Asiaye, also works as a trader with his wife at the popular Kpansia market and drives in the evenings when the market is closed.

According to eyewitness reports, the victim a father of three, was shot dead for refusing to give the police officer a N100 bribe as demanded by the team on patrol.

It was gathered that the patrol took to their heel after noticing that the deceased was bleeding after a bullet hit his body.

The incident, which happened on Monday evening in Kpansia market, Azikoro town, Yenagoa, threw the neighborhood into pandemonium and tension as youths and traders in took to the streets to protest.

The angry protesters carried placards with different inscriptions, such as “Stop police brutality,” “Stop unjust killing,” “The perpetrators must face the brunt of their consequences,” and “Binalayefa was working for his daily bread.”

Meanwhile, the protesting youths besieged the Bayelsa Government House over the incident and the Governor, Senator Douye Diri, called for calm.

He said the police man had been arrested and is undergoing trial and implored the people of the state, particularly youths, to follow due process in resolving issues rather than embarking on frivolous protests.

He said: “Let me advise those who always take to protest that not everything elicits protest. In a democracy, you have a right to protest, but you must first look for an avenue to ventilate your grouse. This government has been very open to everyone. It is only when the government becomes insensitive that you can carry out protests.

“While protest is your right, you do not have to breach that of others by restricting movement. It is not proper to over-stretch your own right and abuse that of others.”

The governor further disclosed that at the time the incident occurred, he was not in the state but was informed by the Commissioner of Police.