Omobolanle Raheem: How police engage in illegal shootings, brutality in our neighbourhoods —Community leaders

SUBAIR MOHAMMED and LEKAN OLABULO engage stakeholders of some communities where police stations are allegedly notorious for unprofessional acts are domiciled.

As public outcry continues over the Christmas Day extrajudicial murder of a Lagos-based lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, by police officers from Ajiwe Divisional Police Station, Ajah, leaders of various communities in the state hosting alleged notorious police stations spoke to Saturday Tribune about other victims in their domains who are yet to get justice.

They also spoke of unrelenting harassment of innocent residents by police officers with victims reporting physical and mental torture all in a bid to extort them.

Recounting the incidence of police killing and assault of innocent residents in Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, the Community Development Committee (CDC) chairman in the area, Mr Ernest Kasunmu, claimed that two people were killed in 2021 while many residents have been harassed or physically assaulted by the police in the outgoing year.

The deceased, Kasunmu alleged, were victims of police hostility, extortion and unprofessional conduct.

He said: “The police have been hostile to residents of Agbado Oke-Odo. Two persons were killed in the community in 2021. The victims were the chairman of tricycle operators, Wale Sogunle, and another resident, a boy. The inspector that killed the latter was suspected to be drunk.

“He went to the tricycle operator and demanded for money and he ended up killing him. The other victim, a boy, was killed by stray bullets from a team of police officers that came to douse the tension.

“He was a son of the CDA chairman. They fired gunshots into the air and the boy was hit and killed instantly.

“The mother is blind. The boy was her only helper. In the two cases, justice has not been seen to have been served almost two years after.

“It is time we have state police because it would check the excesses of the police officers. If they take bribe, they can easily be traced.

“If the police are claiming they are not well paid, are the lecturers, nurses and doctors not affected too? We cannot afford another EndSARS because the police would record a lot of casualties.”

 

I warned about Ajiwe policemen three years ago –Eti-Osa CD boss

Chairman of the CDC in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Alhaji Moshood Olakunle, told Saturday Tribune that he had been writing the state police command for three years without any positive development over the excesses of officers at Ajiwe Police Station.

Olakunle described the killing of Bolanle as barbaric and condemnable.

Olakunle claimed that for three years, he had been writing on alleged unprofessional conducts of officers and men attached to Ajiwe Police Station without any response from the police authorities.

He said: “It is disheartening that such a thing happened to a pregnant woman for that matter. It is condemnable and barbaric. When I got the news, I felt bad about it, a lawyer for that matter.

“I have been writing for about three years about the wickedness of some police officers because I wouldn’t know what prompted an officer of the law to shoot at an innocent and an unarmed citizen.

“The police need urgent reform but we are unique people in Nigeria.

“For how long shall we continue with this? I also heard that the presidency and the Lagos state governor have written a condolence letter to the bereaved family but what will that do for the family of the deceased?

“Many of such cases have happened apart from the Sunday killing of the female lawyer in Eti-Osa East Local Government. This type of killing has been happening all over the state. The police should ensure that the culprit doesn’t go unpunished.”

Olakunle’s Eti-Osa East LCDA counterpart, Mr Yunusa Buhari, said stated that Bolanle’s murder was the second police killing in December.

CDC is the parent body for the CDAs and a CDC has within it as many as five or six CDAs in the state.

According to Buhari, the killing of the female lawyer was the second time a police officer has killed an unarmed resident in the area.

He said: “I have not been around but I heard about the incident when I returned. This is the second time such killing had happened this month. This is unfortunate.

Notorious police stations in Lagos

Within the month of December, two innocent residents of the state, Gafaru Buraimoh and the pregnant lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, were brutally killed by men from Ajiwe Divisional Police Station, Ajah.

Buraimoh was coming out of a mall when he was hit by stray bullets from policemen who were chasing petrol black marketers. Omobolanle, the pregnant lawyer and her family were returning from an eatery on Christmas Day when her life was brutally cut short.

Stephen Alabi, popularly known as ‘Doctor’, was also in December shot dead by a policeman attached to the Sagamu Road Police Station when a team of policemen invaded Sabo area of Ikorodu to enforce the ban on commercial motorcycle operation in the area. Alabi, who was sitting close to one of the motor parks in Sabo, was trying to intervene on behalf of a tricyclist when he was shot dead.

Harassment, illegal raiding, extortion, among others, are however not limited to Ajiwe Police Station as many other police stations in Lagos State like Akinpelu Police Station in Oshodi, Abbattoir Police Station in Agege, Sagamu Road Police Station in Ikorodu and Iponri Police Station have recent histories of misuse of authority and firearm by their officers and men.

Others include police stations at Agbado, Meiran, Surulere and Area E Festac.

Saturday Tribune gathered that men from some of the police stations in the state, in their bid to force victims to give them money, assault them with guns and batons. Policemen also reportedly lock their victims in cells to scare them onto submission.

My police encounter –Bolt driver

A Bolt driver, Lanre Sodiya, narrated his experience at the hands of the men of Abbattoir Police Station to Saturday Tribune. He said the policemen tagged him an EndSARS protester in an attempt to extort him and his passenger, who was allegedly labeled an internet fraudster.

He said: “I am very sad about my experience at the police station. I would have gone on Twitter but they had deleted all the evidence on my phone. On the day of the incident, I picked a guy from Ota in Ogun State and we headed to Ikeja. I stopped at the vulcaniser’s to gauge my tyres. While the vulcanizer was doing that, I saw a church member who also told me that he was going to Ikeja. I spoke to the guy and he allowed the church member to join us on the trip.

“We embarked on the journey. The young guy sat in the front and my church member sat at the back. When we got to the front of Abbattoir Police Station, I made a U-turn. We do make U-turns at that place. But because they saw two young guys in the vehicle, they thought that we were Yahoo guys. They told me to wind down the window, which I did and they directed me to the front of the station and I followed their instruction.

“I tried to park in front of the station because the first time that I had an encounter with them, I was made to stop in front of the gate. This time, they insisted that I must go inside the station and I did. They searched the vehicle and every one of us. They could not find anything. Not satisfied, they insisted that we must come inside the station.

“They collected all our phones. They asked me what I was doing for a living, and I told them that I was a Bolt driver and that I also sell gold and other things. They searched through my Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. At that point, I became angry and asked them why they would be intruding in my privacy. I forcibly collected the phone from them. They apologised and said that I should drop the phone on the table.”

Face to face with death

Lanre’s story became scary from that point.

“They now faced my customer and also collected his phone. They searched through and saw sports betting applications and his artworks. They asked him if he was an artiste and he answered yes. They delayed us for some time before allowing us to go.

After they released us, they stopped us at gate that we should give them money. I declined and questioned them as to why they delayed us in first place. The guy by my side later gave them money. I was not happy with that and I chastised him for giving them money. I protested and demanded to know why we were detained. I brought out my phone and started recording them. At that point, one of them came from behind and dragged me back to their office.

“They handcuffed my hands to the back and started beating me. My church member could not take it any longer. He came to their office and asked why they were beating me without committing any crime. One of the policemen corked his gun and threatened to kill my church member.

“They collected our phones again. They asked for my password. I didn’t want to give them but I was scared. I gave the password to them. They deleted all the videos on my phone and even went to the recycle bin to delete everything. They tagged me as one of the EndSARS protesters and threatened to deal with me. Their leader told me that he would waste my day.

“They took our phones and went away. I realised that the trip that was entered for my passenger to  Ikeja was still reading and that he won’t be able to pay. I called one of them aside and told him how they arrested me before. It was that policeman that went to collect the phone for me to terminate the trip. I felt cheated. They were not in uniform but they all wore jackets and were armed like SARS operatives. I learnt they are called Surveillance Team. Their leader is called Ben.”

We are ensuring officers do not dwell in unprofessionalism —Lagos police

The image maker of the state police command, Benjamin Hundeyin, told Saturday Tribune that every individual caught in an act of unprofessionalism is made to face the disciplinary mechanism of the Nigeria Police Force.

Hundeyin said: “For us at the Lagos State police command, we deal with the individual cases on merit.  Officers that have indulged in extrajudicial killing are made to face disciplinary actions.

“That will serve as a deterrent to others and that is what we will continue to do. We intend to continue to strengthen the disciplinary mechanism within the force to make sure that officers do not dwell in unprofessionalism.”

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