Posted by By Ademola Oni, Abeokuta on
Controversy has continued to trail the killing of a woman in Sagamu on Friday, whom the Ogun State Police Command claimed led the robbery operation at the Sagamu Branch of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
Controversy has continued to trail the killing of a woman in Sagamu on Friday, whom the Ogun State Police Command claimed led the robbery operation at the Sagamu Branch of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
The employer of the woman, (simply known as Funmilayo or Iya Shalewa,) Demirs Farms, Sagamu, has declared that she was killed while hiding in a bush during the shootout between the police and the fleeing robbers.
The aggrieved members of the family of the deceased, a mother of three, on Sunday claimed that the police command had brushed aside all evidence presented to convince the command of the innocence of Funmilayo and had gone ahead to label her the gang leader.
A relation of the employer, who spoke with our correspondent on Sunday, described as false, the claim that the police killed the gang leader of the robbery operations, contending that the command simply tried to cover up its 'error.'
According to his account, the woman was on her way to buy fuel for the farm's generator and decided to hide in a bush as a result of the sporadic shooting between the police, the town‘s vigilante group and robbers.
The source said, 'Funmilayo had been working with our farm for two years. Our farm is situated at the back of Remo Secondary School. She lives in Waterworks, Isale Oko Garrage (Motor Park) area of Sagamu.
'She decided to hide in a nearby bush where she called the farm to tell the other assistants that there were shootings and that they should be careful if they chose to leave the poultry farm. That was where she was caught in the cross fire.'
He added that when residents, who identified the woman, called her employer, Mrs. Blessing Alawode, she identified the woman and told the story of how she was sent to buy fuel for the farm‘s generator after reporting to work on Friday morning.
The source added, 'She was already taken to the Divisional Police Station when Alawode reported and identified the woman as her employer, who already reported for work and left the poultry less than an hour before then.
'Instead, the police directed the woman to write a statement and took her to Eleweran, Abeokuta, where the police paraded Funmi as the leader of the robbery gang.
'When Alawode and another assistant, who had gone to bring Funmi‘s photograph from the poultry for identification, wanted to tell the other side of the story, the policemen pushed them to the gate of the police headquarters and said Alawode was ‘half mental‘.'
He explained that one of the members of the vigilante group, who happened to be a relation of the killed poultry worker, already took her picture while in the swamp with a mobile phone where she was killed.
'But the police tied some amulets and charms to her arms before bringing her out from the swamp. Then, they shot her by the side after bringing her out to give the impression that she was killed during a shoot out. We have the picture taken before they tied the arm‘s band and shot again,' he said.
He said the family had decided to meet on Sunday in Makun, Sagamu, to make arrangements on how to report the case to the Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Adeniyi Sonariwo, for further action.