32-year-old man shot dead by police officer in Ibadan

Yemi Ajayi, a 32-year-old man, has been shot dead by a policeman in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

Olugbenga Fadeyi, the police public relations officer (PPRO) in the state, confirmed the incident which took place on Friday.

According to Fadeyi, one of the policemen, who was part of a team from the Agodi command, tried to stop a vehicle conveying Ajayi, and in the process, fired a shot which hit him in the stomach.

“A team from the Area Command Police (ACPOL), Agodi, who were on routine patrol at Iwo road interchange on July 10 at about 12:15pm, stopped a Toyota Camry car which was alleged to have refused to stop,” he said.

“In the process, one of the policemen fired a shot which hit one Adeyemi ‘m’ in the stomach and he was rushed to police hospital, Agodi, for treatment but was later confirmed dead by the medical personnel.

“Investigation has commenced into the incident.”

A witness who pleaded anonymity alleged that the policemen were drunk when the incident occurred, NAN reported.

According to him, the officers drove to the scene of the incident in a Nissan micra car and stopped the vehicle being driven by the deceased’s cousin, Kayode Atanda.

The two occupants were reportedly on their way to work and before the car could slow down and clear off the highway, one of the policemen started struggling with the driver over the steering wheel.

The witness alleged that as the driver was trying to get out of the car, the policeman shot him on the arm and the bullet hit the stomach of the deceased who was sitting beside him.

“I was here when the incident happened. He was about to open the car door when the drunken police officer shot him,” the witness said.

“All the three police officers were drunk. I think government needs to put end to these unreasonable killings.”

Sola Ajayi, elder brother to the victim, lamented that the incident has created a vacuum in the family, especially for their aged mother, as his brother was the bread winner of the family.

Ajayi noted that when the family heard about the incident, they went to the police station to confirm but saw only the vehicle.

“It was only Kayode Atanda, our cousin, who was rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH) for treatment that we met in the hospital. I pray the arm will not be amputated,” he said.

He also alleged that the police had abandoned the injured Atanda at UCH, while the whereabouts of the corpse of his brother was unknown to the family.