Itire boils as police allegedly shot Okada rider dead

Etim Ekpimah

There was pandemonium on Saturday in the Itire area of Surulere in Lagos State as a policeman was alleged to have shot a commercial motorcyclist dead.

It was learnt that the policeman, who shot the commercial motorcyclist together with his colleagues, took the motorcycle to Itire Police Station.

A resident, who simply identified himself as Michael, said following the incident, the other commercial motorcyclists gathered at the police station to demand the arrest and prosecution of the killer policeman.

According to him, the police trying to disperse the crowd from the station, shot continuously to scare the people away from the place.

He added that he could not ascertain if the police bullets hit other people as the police shot directly at the people.

He said: “A policeman killed one okada rider; he was not a cultist. Upon killing him, they took his motorcycle away and this angered the other okada riders who gathered at the Itire Police Station.

“They did not want people to be around the station; so, they all came out and started shooting at the people directly. As I’m talking to you now, I don’t know how many people the police bullets might have hit.”

Another resident, who declined his identity, said the commercial motorcycle rider and the police were arguing over something, but was surprised when the police shot the man dead.

He added that if the people did not see them when the man was killed, they would have denied ever killing the man, which led to the commercial motorcyclists assembling at the police station to demand the killer policeman arrest and prosecution.

“But to our surprise, the police came out and started shooting at the people. It was really a bizarre experience,” he said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said he would revert to our correspondent after confirmation.

He had yet to do so as at press time.