Moruf Haruna, a company driver, has died after he was allegedly kicked in the stomach by an officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in the Abaji area of Kogi State. It was learnt that 40-year-old Haruna, who worked for Vintage Transport and Logistics, was allegedly manhandled by the officer when an NDLEA team stopped his vehicle for a search in the Abaji area.
Haruna’s ‘motor boy’, identified only as Matthew, told a Punch correspondent that there were seven NDLEA officers at the checkpoint, adding that the NDLEA officer that kicked his boss also stamped his legs on Haruna’s stomach.
He said, “We were going to Jos around 5am on Saturday. 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.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said Haruna sustained injuries during the search – when he tried to resist the officers from doing their lawful duties. 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.
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