A policeman who is a member of the anti terrorist squad in Niger State at the weekend opened fire on a couple at a check point in Minna, the State capital.
The bullet hit the wife, said to be pregnant, at the neck.
The couple, Alhaji Mohammed Kabir and his wife, Safiya, were on a visit from Kaduna.
They were said to have run into the check point on NITECO Road in their Peugeot 406 at about 10:30 pm.
The couple, apparently unaware of the existence of the check point at the location and Kabir who was driving, according to a source, made no effort to slow down or stop there.
The errant policeman took offence at Kabir’s action and aimed a shot at the car.
The bullet shattered the windscreen into smithereens before hitting Safiya on the neck.
By the time Kabir pulled the car to a halt, he saw his wife drenched in blood.
He raised the alarm, shouting in Hausa ‘’sun kashe mata na, sun kashe mata na’’ (they have killed my wife).
A crowd soon gathered and advised him to take his wife to a nearby private hospital. However, the first two private hospitals he went refused to accept Safiya.
The saving grace came when some security men accompanied the couple to the Minna General Hospital, where doctors promptly attended to her and later referred her to the National Hospital, Abuja where she is now recuperating.
Meanwhile, the shooting angered youths in the area, as some of them wanted to attack the policemen at the check point. They felt the policemen were high handed .They were, however, dispersed by a team of mobile policemen drafted to the scene.
It was also gathered that the trigger-happy policeman was immediately arrested and relieved of his rifle by his superior.
Efforts to confirm the development from Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Richard Oguche (ASP) were fruitless, but a senior Police officer who preferred anonymity said that the suspect had been arrested on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Diseye Desire Nsirim.
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Policeman shoots pregnant woman in Minna