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A
46-year old man, Eze Okoro, has been shot dead by drunken policemen in front of
his house at 1, Oguntolu Street, Ijaiye, Ojokoro area, Lagos State,
southwest Nigeria. But the police have denied taking part in his murder.
The
policemen, according to sources, had been drinking for about six hours at a
hotel nearby before they gunned down the man while he was enjoying evening
breeze in front of his house after work.
After
shattering his waist with bullets, the policemen who were said to have come
from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, forcefully took his corpse
away and dumped it in a mortuary at Yaba.
It was
gathered that they did this after the Ikeja mortuary officials insisted
that before his body could be deposited there, they must fill certain forms,
which they refused.
The
circumstances surrounding the shooting of Okoro were still strange to the
residents who claimed that there was no violence or robbery in the area that
warranted such police action.
According
to Okoro’s wife, Mrs Ugo Okoro, her husband, who is a businessman, returned
from work on the fateful day, and because there was no electricity supply, they
went and relaxed in front of their house to enjoy some breeze before going to
sleep.
She
said their family friend, Chinedu Nwanu and his wife, Nneka Nwanu, who is
heavily pregnant, also joined them outside.
Ugo
said it was not up to five minutes after she left them and went into their
apartment that she heard gun shots and the residents started running in all
directions.
She
said while the commotion was going on, she heard her husband, who was wearing a
pair of shorts and simple shirt, shouting that he was not a robber and was
explaining to the policemen that he was just relaxing in front of his house.
“Nneka
also fell down and started shouting that she was pregnant and showing the
police her husband who was beside her. She was allowed to leave with her
husband and one of the policemen shot my husband in the waist and he died on
the spot,” Ugo narrated.
According to witnesses, after they shot Okoro, they forcefully took his body away,
perhaps to cover up their heinous act.
Sources claimed
that the team of policemen had arrived a popular hotel in the area beside Okoro’s
house in a Sienna bus with registration number KJA 280 BD and were drinking
heavily in the hotel from 4p.m. till 10 p.m. before the incident happened.
Police
sources claimed that the man was shot in error during a gun battle with armed
robbers in the hotel, a claim disproved by Okoro’s wife and relatives.
Even
the hotel management told asserted
that there was no shootout between the police and robbers as claimed by the
police and that they did not know their mission in the area that day.
The
hotel sources, who pleaded for anonymity, said they only noticed the unusual
presence of policemen which caused panic in their hotel.
One
of the sources said that the policemen did not disclose their mission. Rather
they were there having their drinks for several hours.
The
source said it was later that they heard gun shots outside and residents
including workers of the hotel started running for safety and that after some
time, he got to know that they had shot and killed Okoro.
He
insisted that there was no robbery incident in the area that day.
Okoro’s
younger brother, Innocent, said he was informed about what happened and he
immediately contacted other members of the family and they started searching
from one police station to another for his corpse.
He
said they went to many police stations and commands and to their greatest surprise,
they all denied having anything to do with the incident.
Innocent
said the search lasted for three days and there was no information whatsoever
before they contacted a top police officer who made the police to open up.
He
said the police then asked him to go to Yaba mortuary and search for Okoro’s
corpse. And when he got there he discovered that the corpse was dumped there as
an unidentified corpse.
He
said the corpse was brought back to Ikeja General Hospital mortuary where he
filled the necessary documents.
Innocent
expressed shock about what happened and the way the police treated the whole
matter by not even contacting the family because they knew he was an innocent
resident they killed for no reason.
Additionally,
he said that “the police admitted that Okoro was killed in error and asked us
to come forward with the elders of the family.”
The
late Okoro hailed from Imo State. He had a son called Divine.
Meanwhile
the Officer in Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Superintendent of
Police, Abba Kyari, has claimed that it was armed robbers that shot Okoro
while they were trying to escape during an exchange of gunfire with the police.
Kyari
said: “On 8 March, at about 1p.m., I received information that a gang of armed
robbers who had planned to rob a bank on Isolo road, Ajao Estate were
approaching Lagos from Ogun State through Sango-Ota axis.
“Immediately
I received this information, I alerted a team of crack detectives. We quickly
moved and laid ambush at Abule-Egba Junction along Lagos /Abeokuta Expressway
where the armed robbers were intercepted. After a gun battle with the robbers,
seven of them were injured while two of them, identified as Olubode Mudashiru,
27, and Gbenga Joseph, 48, were arrested with bullet wounds.”
He
explained that after the arrest, they received further information that
one of the operational vehicles of the robbers, a golden colour Toyota Camry carrying
three AK-47 rifles and two rocket launchers had driven through Abule-Egba
junction towards Ajao Estate/Mushin area of Lagos.
“I
quickly deployed my men to that area where we were informed that the robbers
had lodged at a popular hotel in Meiran area of Lagos, where they normally
smoke Indian hemp and drink before embarking on operation. I quickly mobilized
SARS operatives to the location.
“On
sighting the patrol team, the robbers opened fire at us and we responded.
During the gun battle, one of the robbers, Tunji Bamidele, 28, was arrested
with one AK-47 rifle and a bag. Other gang members escaped along with two AK-47
rifles in their possession.
“But
one man, identified as Okoro, was shot dead by the robbers as they were trying
to escape. We were on operation. We don’t know who is who. It was one of the
suspected robbers, Bamidele, who told us that the person that was killed was
not one of them.
“We
quickly transferred the victim to a morgue, where I took charge of the mortuary
bill. We were not the one that shot Okoro,” Kyari said.
According
to him, during the operation, SARS recovered two AK-47 rifles, eight AK-47
magazines fully loaded, three locally made double barrel pistols, 65 live cartridges
along with two of their operational vehicles Toyota Sienna with registration
number AKD 54 AG and Nissan Sunny with registration number BT 914 APP.
[PM News]
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