The Policeman Who Fired at My Convoy was Drunk - Yobe Deputy Gov.

Aliyu

Alhaji Abubakar D Aliyu, Deputy Governor of Yobe State, yesterday said the policeman that ‘aimlessly’ fired a gunshot at his convoy in Damaturu on Saturday was drunk.
Aliyu stated this while reacting to stories carried in some national dailies, saying “This clarification is necessary because I am being inundated by phone calls from sympathizers.”

Some of the reports stated that the deputy governor escaped by the whiskers when Mohammed Aliyu, a police corporal at a checkpoint fired at one of the tyres of the vehicle conveying the security details (SSS) of the deputy governor.

The incident occurred at a checkpoint in Damaturu while the deputy governor was being escorted by four other vehicles on his way back home after visiting his farm at Maisandari in the outskirts of the state capital.

“There was no attempted attack on me by external forces. The policeman that fired gunshot while my convoy was passing by at the checkpoint was not in his senses. The intelligence report I gathered revealed that he had consumed alcohol and other psychotropic substances,” the deputy governor said.

“The fact is that there were five vehicles in all in the convoy: a black Hilux with armed policemen was in the front; then my vehicle, followed by a Peugeot 406 conveying the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS); then the white Hilux of my ADC and finally, another Hilux conveying policemen.

“Our convoy passed through the same checkpoint and came back within 30 minutes but the overzealous policeman ignorantly fired the gunshot.

“There were no intruders…no traffic at all at the roadblock and the SSS vehicle was following mine very closely but yet he fired…it is unfortunate but we thank God that nobody was injured. I wish to appeal to the police authorities to always scrutinize the police they send to checkpoints,” he said.

The deputy governor who spoke through his press secretary, Musa Alaraba debunked claims by the Yobe State police command that the corporal fired the gunshot in an attempt to scuttle the effort of an alleged introducer that was moving in a separate vehicle who bulldozed his way into the convoy.

Yobe State police commissioner Patrick Egbuniwe confirmed that the police corporal had shot at the SSS vehicle