Two policemen who were earlier dismissed for manslaughter have been discharged and acquitted.
The police officers, Sergeant Segun Okun and Corporal Adekunle Oluwarotimi, were declared innocent by a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja after the presiding judge, Justice Modupe Nico-Clay found them not guilty of the offence.
Earlier, the officers were accused of negligently killing one Emeli Azuike by shooting him with a gun at Ilusun Street, Mosafejo in the Amukoko area of Lagos on January 11, 2018.
Also, they were charged for shooting one Chima Gideon in the buttocks, thereby causing bodily harm to him.
However, the judge held that the prosecution was unable to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants caused the death of the deceased.
The Lagos State Command had on January 13, 2018, dismissed the defendants alongside one other policeman, Sergeant Saturday Osaseri, after an orderly room trial convicted them of breaching the Nigeria Police’s rules of engagement.
“PW3’s evidence only proved that the bullet hit his buttock, he does not know who shot the gun.
“The court therefore found that the prosecution failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt, the defendants are discharged and acquitted,” Justice Nico-Clay held.
The defendants were arraigned on two counts of manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm, and they pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Meanwhile, tragedy struck on Sunday, in Jalingo, Taraba State capital, as a hit-and-run driver killed a 400-level student of the Taraba State University, TSU.
The incident, which occurred on the day Nigeria marked its 63rd independence anniversary, was described as tragic by eyewitnesses.
The student, whose name was given as Joseph Afara, was said to have been on his way to withdraw money in one of the new generation banks located in the Roadblock area of Jalingo metropolis when the vehicle knocked him down.
An eyewitness alleged that the incident was caused by recklessness on the part of the driver.
“The driver in his attempt to gain entrance into the Jalingo Motor Park, made a reckless manoeuvre into the wrong lane, resulting in the head on collision,” he said.
Confirming the incident, an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, who said he was not in the position to speak with journalists, said, “We are actually aware of the accident.”