An upcoming artiste, Olasore Oluwafemi was on Sunday in Ikorodu area of Lagos State shot by a police officer who was chasing a bribe evader.
Punch reports that Oluwafemi(pictured) had boarded a commercial bus, and was going to keep an appointment with his manager, Opeyemi Efunwole, when the bus he was in was flagged down by a policeman, identified as Zakari.
The cop who is attached to the Owutu Police Division, Ikorodu was said to have fired a gun when the driver refused to stop, and the bullet hit the artiste who was sitting beside the driver.
According to the artiste, “I was told the police usually collect N2, 000 from every cab driver at the junction. So when he stopped our cab, the driver tried to reverse and he shot at the car. The bullet pierced through the cab and hit my leg. I felt terrible pains.”
The cab driver was said to have driven him to the filing station where Efunwole was waiting for him.
Efunwole, who was the manager of the victim, said he took him to a private hospital where he was given first aid.
“But we had to go to the police station for a police report to get further treatment at a general hospital.
“However, on getting to the station, the Divisional Police Officer denied that any of his men went out or shot at anybody. But later, on compassionate ground, he gave us a medical form for my friend to get further treatment.
“While the treatment was on at the hospital, I went back to the station with Oluwafemi’s relatives and the cab driver to give our statements about what happened. They said they were not sure it was a policeman attached to the station that fired the shot.”
Efunwole said that the DPO, Abayomi Oni, ordered the three policemen on duty at the time of the incident to file out with their rifles.
He said immediately they came out, the cab driver identified Zakari and said he was the one who fired the shot.
“But the DPO still called a sergeant to count their bullets. The sergeant counted 20 bullets in the rifles of the first two policemen, and when it came to Zakari’s turn, the bullets were 19. But the DPO defended him and said it was 19 bullets they gave him.
“How can that be? How can they give him 19 bullets when they gave others 20?
“When the cab driver still insisted that Zakari fired the shot, the police threatened to lock him up in the cell and ordered him to shut up,” he added.
Source: Punch
