A police sergeant attached to the Elelenwo Police Division of the Rivers State Police Command has shot dead a 38-year-old man, Abiodun Jimoh, on the premises of the station, the report says.
The sergeant, who was said to be drunk, killed Jimoh during an argument over motorcycle documents.
The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, in a reaction said that the fatal shooting of the victim was ‘without justification’. He also said that the sergeant had been arrested and detained for prosecution.
According to report, Jimoh and his younger brother, Ismaheed, were arrested by the sergeant whom the police have yet to name, during a patrol in the area on Friday.
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Ismaheed, a phone and laptop technician, who, along with his late brother, hails from Kwara State, narrated the sad incident: ‘On Friday night, some policemen on patrol stopped us. I was riding a lady’s bike with my brother on the passenger seat.
‘They searched us, saw our identity cards. When they saw nothing implicating, one of the senior officers told a restless junior officer to leave us.’
‘The defiant junior officer insisted we were criminals and that he must take us to the station. My late brother entered their van, I pleaded to ride on my bike and one of them joined me.’
‘I rode in front with the officer riding with me and the rest of the patrol team were coming behind with my brother. The edgy officer who was on the bike with me started asking how much we had to bail ourselves.’
‘I told him I had ₦2,000. We got to School Road at Elelenwo, then they asked me to drive to the police station. I got there and parked. The senior officer returned our phones they earlier seized and asked me to go home and bring documents for my bike the next day. I agreed.’
‘The police that shot my brother, who was evidently drunk insisted he must do something bad to us. Again, the senior officer told him, ‘Leave these guys to go, let them report back tomorrow with the bike’s documents.’
‘Immediately, he started beating me, hitting me with the butt of his rifle. Other colleagues pleaded with him; he didn’t listen. Before I knew it, I heard gunshots. I saw my brother lying down in pain. I heard two gunshots. One hit my brother in the leg and the other hit one of the policemen. That was when the senior officer took the gun from him.’
The police commissioner in a statement through SP Nnamdi Omoni, the command’s spokesman, described the incident as sad.
Mukan said, ‘The sergeant, without justification, shot Abiodun Jimoh, who was immediately rushed to the hospital but later died. His remains have been deposited in the mortuary.’
‘The incident is being investigated and the outcome will be communicated to the public. Meanwhile, the police sergeant who carried out the dastardly act is in custody for debriefing and psychological evaluation. His orderly room trial will commence in earnest, for possible arraignment.’
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK