Truck Driver Shot By Soldiers Over N500 in Zaria-Kaduna Highway.

By Agaju Madugba

Kaduna—For allegedly refusing to part with N500, some unidentified soldiers in the early hours of Monday shot a truck driver conveying potatoes from Zaria to Kaduna.

Protesting the shooting, other truck drivers used their vehicles to block both sides of Zaria-Kaduna highway.

                        protest: Zaria-Kaduna Highway blocked by truck drivers in a protest over the shooting of a                                    colleague by soldiers at Marabar-Jos, Kaduna, yesterday. PHOTO: Olu Ajayi.

The development led to several hours of traffic gridlock at Tudun Wada Dankande, near the old toll gate, scene of the incident which reportedly occurred at about midnight.

From his hospital bed at St. Gerald’s Catholic Hospital in the Kaduna metropolis, where sympathisers rushed him, the driver, Abdul Saminu, said the soldiers forced him to stop and that after confirming that he was carrying a consignment of potatoes, demanded N500 from him.

He recounted his ordeal: “The soldiers used their van to block the road and I had to stop and they found out that my truck was filled with potatoes.

“They then asked me to give them N500, but I told them that I had only N200 on me. They were not happy, so they dragged me out of the truck and started slapping me before one of them pulled the trigger and shot me in the leg. They entered their van and drove off.”

Efforts to reach the Army spokesman at the 1 Division of the Nigerian Army were unsuccessful, as he did not answer repeated calls to his phone.

It took the intervention of Kaduna State government for the tanker drivers to be persuaded to end the blockade at about 3p.m. yesterday.

Deputy Governor of the state, Bala Bantex, and the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Umar Usman Shehu, visited the scene and appealed to the protesters to call off the action, assuring them that the relevant authorities had commenced investigation into the matter.