An okada rider was shot dead by a police officer yesterday at Kilo, Surulere area of Lagos State, bringing to three the number of reported extra-judicial killings in the state this month. Earlier in March, a policeman had shot a bus driver dead in Mosan, Ayobo area of Lagos for refusing to part with money. Two weeks after, a teenager was killed by a stray bullet in a shootout between policemen and some cultists in Ikorodu.
The victim of yesterday’s killing, a motorcyclist identified as Ademola Moshood, was a few blocks away from his house, when he was shot by an officer attached to Soloki Police Station, Surulere, in the wee hours of the day.
According to eyewitnesses, Moshood was shot at close range in the head for refusing to part with N200 as a bribe after he was beaten by the officers. Three officers simply identified as AK, Patrick and an unknown officer, allegedly involved in the act, were on patrol when they sighted Moshood at Kilo bus-stop in Surulere, stopped him and started demanding for money.
Residents of the area alleged that police officers from Soloki police station daily engage in the extortion of commercial bus drivers and motorcyclists, popularly called Okada riders. Narrating the incident, a resident, who preferred not to be named, said: “The officers stopped the deceased and were trying to extort money from the motorcyclist, but he did not give them because he said he had closed for the day and was only heading home. The officers insisted that he must give them money and weren’t listening to anything he was saying. Next thing we knew, one of them went to his side, placed his gun to the Okada rider’s head and shot him.”
Another eyewitness said the police on noticing that the man had died, immediately fled the scene with the deceased’s bike while abandoning the body. “When they saw that he was dead, they took off in their patrol van with the dead man’s motorcycle, while leaving him on the floor in a pool of his blood at the bus stop.”
Yet another eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Mr. Emmanuel, confirmed that one officer, popularly known as AK, led the team on patrol that shot Moshood. “AK led the team of policemen on the extortion mission with two other officers, and he was the one who pulled the trigger after the motorcyclist refused to drop something for them.
“The man was less than a minute from his house. He had already closed for the day and so he couldn’t give them money, but they refused to let him go. The officers started beating him with a baton and later shot the man and took his bike away. The policemen in this area are always in the habit of extorting money from road users,” he said.
Some residents, who witnessed the incident, stormed the Soloki police station, Aguda Division, to report the crime. They said on getting to the station, they sighted the officers hiding behind a police van. They were, however, dispersed by officers on duty, who shot at them.
“At the station, the officers who killed the man were seen hiding around a van and pretending as if nothing happened. When we asked that they should produce the man that killed Moshood, other officers started shooting at us, telling us to leave,” one of the residents said.
It took the intervention of the Area Commander, G.I. Eze, who pacified the angry residents. He expressed displeasure at the act of the officers and said they would be tried and prosecuted accordingly, assuring that the matter would not be swept under the carpet.
