How 24-year-old Man Allegedly Killed by Police Draws Attention of Family, Groups

The family of 24-year-old man, Idris Bakare, who was allegedly killed by a police bullet on Sunday night are demanding justice.

PUNCH Metro gathered that some people were reportedly fighting on Oregun Road, Lagos, late hours on Sunday when a police patrol van arrived at the scene.

Idris, while returning to his house at No 4, Baale Street, Oregun, Ikeja area of Lagos, was hit by a policeman’s bullet on the thigh.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident to PUNCH Metro on Monday.

The deceased’s cousin, Tobi, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, demanded justice for the victim.

According to him, the family want the suspected cop to be prosecuted and be made to face justice.

“When Idris was hit by the bullet, he managed to rush back to the policeman to tell him he (the policeman) shot him,” he said.

He said there was a health centre (Oregun Health Centre) opposite the street, and when people who came outside tried to help Idris get there, the policeman allegedly cocked his gun again and everyone ran away while the police team left with the victim.

He said Idris’ father went to the Alausa Police Station to report the matter and it was discovered that the victim was taken to an ‘Emergency Clinic’ along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. He said Idris died at the said hospital.

He told PUNCH Metro that the state Deputy Commissioner of Police had visited the bereaved family on Monday in Oregun, and promised that justice would be done.

Demanding justice, he said, “We don’t want their money or anything, but the policeman should be given life imprisonment or hanged.”

When contacted on Tuesday, the Lagos police spokesman, Hundeyin, told PUNCH Metro that three policemen were at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos, assisting the police with the ongoing investigations over the matter.

“Three policemen are at the State CID assisting with investigations,” the PPRO told PUNCH Metro in a phone conversation.

Meanwhile, a Civil Society Organisation, the Take It Back Movement, in a statement on Tuesday also demanded justice for Idris.

A statement made available to our correspondent by the Lagos branch of the organization, signed by Adekunle Taofeek, described the case as an extrajudicial killing.

“We frown at the aforementioned heartbreaking news and we strongly condemn it in all totality.

“The Nigerian police do not only engage the masses with brute force but also institutionalized human rights violations and extrajudicial murder.

“It is important to state that extrajudicial killings by uniform personnel, especially the police, have become a primary cause of death in the country,” the statement by the TIB partly read

PUNCH.