Corrupt and poorly trained Nigerian policemen on Sunday shot an 18-year-old admission seeker, Samuel Omojuwa in Ketu, Lagos State. Their victim is now lying in critical condition at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi. The law-breaking policemen are attached to the Ketu Police Division, in the state, Punch reports.
According to the newspaper, Samuel’s elder brother, David, a businessman, was also attacked with a cutlass by another member of the three-man police team on Omojuwa Street.
One of the attacking policemen was identified simply as Inspector Gboyega. Witnesses say the policemen had attempted to arrest a commercial motorcycle rider for allegedly breaking a traffic rule. The rider, whose motorcycle was reportedly confiscated, had struggled with the officers and the policemen allegedly hit the motorcyclist with a cutlass. This angered his colleagues at the junction, who later intervened. This caused confusion in the area.
It is understood that David, a son of a community leader, reportedly approached the policemen in his attempt to mediate. A resident of the area, Abayomi Salaudeen, said, “The policemen are well known to us. So, David thought he could mediate. But one of them, who didn’t know David, attacked him with a cutlass.
“His younger brother, Samuel, who witnessed the incident, abused the officers from the front of their house, which was a bit far from the scene. One of the policemen fired a shot, which hit him in the leg.”
In spite of his life threatening injury, efforts by residents to rescue Samuel and take him to a hospital were resisted by the policemen. They insisted on taking him to the station.
He was allegedly dragged from the spot to a waiting police van and thrown into the back of the vehicle.
A member of the victim’s family, Emmanuel, said the family and some other residents went to the station to demand an explanation for their lawless action.
“But the policemen at Ketu division said it was not their division that carried out the operation. When we continued our protest because we saw the operational vehicle they brought in the station, they later brought him out of the cell.
“He was then taken to the Accident and Emergency Centre at the tollgate area in Ojota, where he was given first aid,” he added.
The victim is said to have been transferred to the NOHI on Monday where he was placed on admission.
“They didn’t release the police report on time. They also didn’t pay the hospital bill. The Ketu Divisional Police Officer told us all kinds of lies, saying it was a minor injury and within six days he would walk; whereas the bullet broke the boy’s bones,” Emmanuel added.
The victim, who spoke to Punch on the telephone from the hospital bed, said he was in pain, but confirmed that the bullet had been removed from his leg.
“I am in serious pain. I have injuries all over my body. Doctors have removed the bullet today,” he said.
However, as typical, police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, denied that the policemen shot Samuel and attacked David with a cutlass, saying the police were not farmers.
Badmos, said, “The report from the division was that some hoodlums went on the rampage around Ilele Street, Kosofe, after which two of them, Yusuf Aliu and Yusuf Mojeed, were arrested for being in possession of items suspected to be hemp by operatives of the division. The policemen were attacked. It is not true that the policemen use a cutlass. How can they use a cutlass when they are not farmers?”
Actually, when President Muhammadu Buhari promised changed, Checkpointcharley thought he would reform the police and other security agencies. How could their be change when we have corrupt, unprofessional, ill-trained security agencies, with colonial mindset enforcing law and order?
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