A Lagos State policeman shot a security guard named Koleosho Abayomi while enforcing the Okada ban at the Lekki Peninsula Scheme II, in the Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Abayomi is demanding justice after he was allegedly shot in the thigh by an officer who was in the company of three of his Ogombo Police Station colleagues.
According to The PUNCH, the victim said that commercial motorcyclists were permitted to operate on the estate to facilitate the movement of residents and that when the policemen arrived at the gate on Friday, one of his colleagues stopped their patrol vehicle.
Abayomi claimed that the policemen were enraged by the action and got out of the car to confront the security guard for stopping them.
The 49-year-old man added that he intervened when the situation became out of control but was shot by a police officer afterwards.
“Since the ban on Okada in Lagos State, Lekki Peninsula Scheme II has registered its own motorcycles for use within the estate,” he explained.
“The motorcycles do not go out of the estate to operate. The measure was in place to ease the movement of residents in the estate. But since the ban on Okada operations in the state, the police at the Ogombo division usually come into the estate to raid motorcyclists.
“These motorcyclists have their jackets with identification numbers, so when the complaint got to us, we reported it to the chairman of the estate, but it took time before he reported the case to the DPO to caution his men since the motorcyclists don’t operate outside the estate.
“So, the policemen kept coming. When their presence could no longer be tolerated, the chairman instructed us to always ask their mission and that was what caused the problem that day.
“When Friday flagged them down on July 17 and the policemen got out of the patrol vehicle to arrest him, I quickly intervened and sent a signal to my CSO, Greg. When he came, he was trying to pacify them when one of them shot my right thigh.
“Immediately, the CSO called the DPO and he agreed to take full responsibility for what happened. I was rushed to a nearby hospital, where I was admitted for two weeks. The doctor asked me to leave because out of the N640,000 hospital bill, the DPO only dropped N300,000.”
He stated that he was transferred to the Marina General Hospital for a major surgical procedure.
Abayomi said the DPO gave a guard who took him to the general hospital N230,000, adding that the money finished within a week.
“I called the DPO again and he sent N130,000 and when the money got exhausted, I called and called but he didn’t answer. I called my CSO and he said the DPO had promised to visit me. But I didn’t see or hear anything from the DPO. So, I sent my younger brother to him and when he saw him, he started screaming and said my family members should continue taking care of me,” he added.
Abayomi stated that he treated himself with personal funds and contributions from the estate management until he was discharged.
Despite being discharged, he had been limping and unable to provide for his wife and three children, he said.
The Chairman of the estate, Moses Kamanya, said the policemen usually visited the estate on the pretext of searching for Internet fraudsters.
He said, however, the cops usually constituted a nuisance by conducting illegal stop-and-search on the estate.
“On that very day, the policemen were grossly at fault and we ensured that the policeman who shot the security guard faced the full wrath of the law.
“As a scheme, we paid the bill for his discharge from the hospital when the police didn’t come. It was a sad incident.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said he would get back to our correspondent.
He had yet to do so as of the time this report was filed.
