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Keuwa Merlin was the name of the truck driver who was killed by BIR elements five days after the Mayor of Mamfe was murdered.
The truck he drove belonged to the late mayor and he was killed by defence forces as he drove to Mamfe to deliver goods belonging to the Mayor.
The driver’s assistant (Motor Boy) was present at the scene and he escaped without any major injuries.
He witnessed all that happened to the driver and how he was killed by the BIR when they were held at one of the many separatist checkpoints after which the BIR intercepted and opened fire.
“That day we had passed through some of the most troublesome checkpoints successfully on our way to Mamfe. My boss told me it was good sign since we had successfully passed through the toughest areas. 20 metres ahead, we found ourselves again at one very big separatist checkpoint. They were more than 17 of them, armed to the teeth, with a pickup truck and 4 bikes. We were a whole convoy of vehicles and trucks, we all parked and the drivers went ahead to pay their toll. When we were about leaving, the separatists asked my boss to go and see their leader inside the pickup truck. So I followed my boss and we went there together” he recounted.
“The separatists ordered the other vehicles to go except ours. Face to face with the leader of the separatists, my boss and he recognized themselves. They hugged each other and laughed. Then the separatist leader asked my boss some catching up questions. He asked my boss if he were the one driving the mayor’s truck. My boss responded saying he is a simple agent struggling to feed his family and he had been handed the truck to transport the goods and get paid. He told the separatist leader he had no ties with the mayor of Mamfe” the driver assistant narrated.
“So the separatist leader told my boss the mayor had not contributed to the struggle since it begun and had often resulted to sending the BIR after them whenever they asked him to chip in his contribution to the fight. So he told my boss they were going to offload the truck and burn it down then kidnap us to see if the mayor would not spend money. So the separatist leader sent one of his boys along with me to go and off the engine of the truck so it will be offloaded and burnt down. After putting off the engine and going from the truck, the BIR emerged from nowhere and opened fire. The boy who was sent to see me off ran off in the bushes. I laid down flat on my tommy beneath the truck while the shooting was going on. The BIR suddenly started aiming at the Pickup truck where my boss was. I started shouting with all my voice for them to stop shooting the pickup because my boss was inside. They heard but ignored my call. The separatist leader and the others in the vehicle ran off leaving my boss who was shot in the head by the BIR” he added.
“They had killed him and laid him on the road with his phone in his hand. I pleaded to take my bosses body into the truck but they outrightly denied. So I asked to take at least his phone and still yet they refused. They told me they had been given firm instructions by the Mayor to secure his truck and the goods only. So they forced me to drive the truck to Mamfe. they killed my boss and one other separatist fighter. It was later in Mamfe that the other drivers who were earlier freed by the separatist told me they were the ones who alerted the mayor who then sent the BIR” he continued.
Keuwa Merlin’s brother revealed that his deceased brother has left behind three little children and a widow.
The eldest of the kids is a girl of 10 year old.
“This is another burden added upon my shoulders” lamented his brother.
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