Tobias Sylvester
A man identified as Ademola Moshood was allegedly shot dead a few blocks away from his house in the early hours of Thursday by police officers attached to Soloki Police Station, Surulere area of Lagos State.
According to eyewitnesses who spoke to SaharaReporters, three policemen identified as AK, Patrick and an unknown officer, who were involved in the act, were on patrol when they sighted Moshood at Kilo bus stop, Surulere, stopped him and started demanding for money.
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.
Narrating how the incident took place, another resident, who preferred not to be named, said:
“The officers stopped him and were trying to collect 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 they did not want to listen to anything he was saying. Next thing we knew, one of them went to his side, placed his gun to his head and shot him.”
Another eyewitness said the Police, noticing that he had died, immediately left the scene with his bike while abandoning the corpse.
“When they saw that he was dead, they took off with their patrol van. They carried his bike, left him on the floor in cold blood and ran away from the bus stop.”
Some residents, who witnessed the incident, stormed Soloki Police Station, Aguda Division, to report the crime. They said on getting to the station, they sighted the officers hiding behind a van.
The residents are demanding that the officers are charged for murder. They want the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to immediately set up a team to investigate the matter and also orientate officers to stop the growing spate of killings by the Police.
