By Jerfferson Ibiwale, Benin

There was pandemonium at the New Benin Market area, Benin City, Tuesday evening when a clash ensued between commercial bus drivers plying New Benin-Mission road route and policemen of the New Benin Police Division.‎

The fracas started when a driver identified simply as Osama, was manhandled by the policemen for allegedly refusing to part with N1,000, which the they had requested from him.

Eyewitness accounts indicate that Osama, who was accompanied by his wife and son, had been pulled over for dangerous driving.
The policemen had allegedly demanded N1,000 from him as ‘settlement’, for making an illegal U-turn along the Mission Road.

The eyewitnesses said that all pleas by Osama and his wife were rebuffed by the policemen who consequently pounced on him, beating and dragging him on the tarred road.

The action enraged other commercial bus drivers who, thinking that Osama was dead, retaliated by attacking one of the policeman.

After beating him to stupor and leaving him for dead, the angry drivers subsequently barricaded the road with bonfires, refusing to pick passengers, while Osama was taken to hospital for medical attention.

In the ensuing confusion, traders in the area hurriedly locked up their shops to and fled the area for fear of a reprisal action by other policemen.