Officials of the revenue agency of the Enugu State government on Tuesday reportedly stabbed a truck driver to death at Ugwuoba along Enugu- Onitsha highway.
Trouble ensued when the officials who levy a tax on farm produce and livestock stopped a driver said to be carrying foodstuffs from northern Nigeria at Ugwuoba in the Oji River Local Government Area of the state.
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“The government officials asked the driver to bring N3,000. He (the driver) reportedly objected and offered to pay N2,500 which the officials rejected and this led to an argument. He later paid the N3,000 but some of the officials rejected it, insisting that he should pay N5,000 for arguing with them,” a driver, Celestine Okafor, told SaharaReporters.
Okafor said the driver’s refusal to pay an additional N2,000 imposed by the officials for arguing with them led to a fight.
“The officials dragged the driver down from his vehicle and started beating him before one of the revenue collectors stabbed him (the driver) to death.”
It was gathered that after the driver died, other truck drivers blocked the Enugu- Onitsha highway for several hours, causing a gridlock.
When SaharaReporters contacted the spokesperson for the state police command, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, he confirmed the incident.
He, however, noted that the incident did not happen on Tuesday.
“It happened but not today. I don’t have the full details yet but it didn’t happen today. I think this incident happened on Thursday,” he said.
The state government had earlier banned all forms of levy collections and tolls on highways and roads within the state.
Governor Peter Mbah in a public service announcement issued through the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, on Sunday, said his “administration views with utmost displeasure the activities of those who constitute a nuisance on our roads and deploy all manner of crude tactics to extort monies from vehicles transporting goods, farm produce and livestock in the state, in the name of a collection of levies and tolls on behalf of the government”.
He warned that such activities on highways and roads run contrary to his government’s determination to dismantle obstacles to the ease of doing business in the state.
“The ban takes effect immediately. A task force has been constituted to enforce the ban.
“Henceforth, anyone caught in the illegal act shall be prosecuted,” the governor said.
