Community petitions Commissioner over alleged killing of 32-year-old man by policemen

Members of Sepeteri Community in Saki East Local Government Area of Oyo State have petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Shina Olukolu to investigate extrajudicial killing of an indigene of the town, Mr Jimoh Abdul Lateef.

It was gathered that Lateef of Agoro compound was allegedly killed on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 by some policemen in the town.

The incident, it was gathered threw the entire community into mourning mood as youths of the community were prevailed upon by the elders not to take laws into their hands in their bid to protest the killing.

The community has, however, petitioned the police commissioner, urging him to investigate the matter and bring the erring officers to book.

The community according to a letter written by its counsel, A.Y. Aderogba, entitled, “A call for investigation of extrajudicial killing of Mr Jimoh Abdul Lateef of Agoro compound, Sepeteri” request the police identify officers responsible for the dastardly act and prosecute them for murder.

Giving the details of the incident that led to the death of Lateef, the counsel stated that the 32-year-old was killed on his way to his place of work at a Gabri processing factory at Obatule Akoto area, of Sepeteri.

According to the letter, “Lateef who was riding on his motorcycle was shot and taken away by members of Nigeria Police Force”, with his father, Mr Jimoh Adio, rushed to the scene and find his son in a pool of blood wriggling in pain ok the ground.

It further informed that, “The Divisional Police officer in Ago-Amodu was immediately contacted who deny that the officers were not from his division. The matter was also reported to the leadership of Sepeteri community. The search party eventually got wind that the police that shot Lateef are from Igbeti.”

According to the letter the leaders of the community in their quest to get to the root of the matter discovered that the victim was taken to a local herbalist to extract bullet from him, but died in the process while his remains, “were deposited at the General hospital Igbeti, but were not allowed to see the corpse.”

The lawyer who described Lateef, “as a responsible, law-abiding and gainfully employed person with no criminal record whose life was cut short by trigger happy policemen has left his family in great pain, his wife widowed and his children orphaned.”

The elders through the letter called on the commissioner of Police, “as a matter of urgency direct through investigations of this case with a view to identify the policemen responsible for the extrajudicial killing and prosecute them for murder while they pursue civil remedy against the Nigeria Police Force.”

But, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), of the state Police command, Mr. Olugbega Fadeyi when contacted said that the state command has set up an investigation panel to look into the matter.

“Yes, I am aware. But as at now, I can’t say anything on the matter. There is an investigation panel that has been set up to look into the matter.

“The Deputy Commissioner of Police has gone there to ascertain what happened.

“But, I can’t say that this is the outcome because the investigation is ongoing. The command is investigating the matter. For now, I can’t say this is what happened or the outcome until the investigation is concluded.”