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| Omorodion (middle) with his other colleagues |
An official of the Nigeria's Vehicle Inspection Unit (VIO) identified as Mr Noah Omorodion has accidentally caused the death of a sachet water seller in Sapele area of Benin City.
The incident occurred Wednesday, the 27th May, 2015, when the official in question, in the line of his duty, impounded an unmarked AUDI wagon vehicle by first east circular road junction, for improper registration.
The VIO official had ordered the driver of the vehicle to alight while he took charge of the steering with an unnamed colleague joining him on the passengers seat.
It was learned that Omorodion proceeded to drive the vehicle to their office only for traffic to be held down by the traffic lights at the junction.
It was also gathered that while this was going on, the driver of the impounded vehicle rushed in from and started struggling with the official in an attempt to get back his car.
However, the VIO official lost control of the vehicle and rammed into the young sachet water hawker, hitting his body against the concrete.
As expected, pandemonium broke out as sympathisers and onlookers, decided to take the laws into their hands and descended on the two officials, beating them black and blue, until a police patrol team intervened.
The police team, who quickly mobilized to the scene prevented the VIO officials from being lynched by the angry crowd, who believed that the death of the young boy was largely due to the high handedness and insensitivity of the officials.
A shop owner at the junction, Emmanuel Osai, told our reporter that although what the VIO official did was not deliberate, regretted the reaction of the crowd, noting that the reaction was as a result of VIO's perceived intolerance and high handedness towards commercial drivers in the pas.
When our reporter visited the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) at kilometer 6, Benin-Sapele Express road, the officials who preferred anonymity, noted that they have been directed not to comment on the development as it was already in court.
Meanwhile, the Edo State commissioner of Police, Mr Folorunsho Adebayo, also said the matter was also before a court.
He said: "The accused person should first thank God for the intervention of our men. Otherwise, he would have dead by now because that crowd already pronounced him guilty and he would have been lynched if not for our men.
"He has been granted bail. The matter is still under a court of competent jurisdiction. So, we should let the law take its course."
Meantime, the whereabouts of the accused, Mr Noah Omorodion, was unknown at press time, as all efforts to get his reaction proved abortive.
However, he is said to risk between twenty to twenty five years in prison if convicted of reckless driving and involuntary manslaughter.
By Amobi Friday
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