By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Police Command has confirmed the setting ablaze of some revenue collectors by some angry youths in Anambra State.
It was gathered that the incident, which reportedly happened on Friday, was said to have occured around the Old Market Road along Venn Road by Egerton Bus Stop in the commercial city of Onitsha.
According to reports, eyewitness accounts revealed that the self-acclaimed government revenue collectors met their waterloo after causing a tipper driver lose control and kill a bystander.
The incident, it was gathered, happened as the revenue collectors were chasing the tipper driver and were even dragging the tipper steering with him, which made the vehicle lose control and crushed the bystander, thereby making the angry mob in the area to go after the revenue agents, apprehend two of them and set them ablaze, while the other four managed to escape.
The Anambra State Police Command’s spokesman, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident in an interview with journalist, and further explained that the police responded swiftly to bring the situation under control, while investigation is still ongoing.
According to him, “Police responded swiftly on the receipt of the fatal accident that happened within that area. We are already working with the relevant authorities to ascertain what happened and find an amicable solution to such, especially on future occurrences.”
Providing further details on what happened, a source in the area said, “There was chaos in Onitsha as an angry mob set ablaze about two revenue touts, while four others were lucky as they managed to escape. The revenue collectors, numbering about six were chasing the tipper driver over a certain amount they asked him to pay.
“As they were chasing him, some of them were dragging the steering with him, but unfortunately, in the process, the tipper driver lost control and rammed into a passerby, killing him instantly.
“Immediately, the revenue collectors saw the damage they had caused; they tried to flee the scene, but the Onitsha mob got angry and descended on them, setting ablaze two of them instantly while four of them managed to escape.
“This is one death too many that has been going on in Anambra in the last two years. The person who the tipper driver rammed into was a known person. We cannot continue like this anymore. These revenue touts of the state government have killed more Ndi Anambra than non-state actors.”
Efforts by this reporter, Izunna Okafor, to get the reactions of the Spokesperson of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, was unsuccessful, as she was yet to send her response as promised, as at the time of this publication.
