Police order full probe into shooting in Ogun by soldiers

By Chioma Joseph, Lagos

The Ogun state Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, has ordered a full scale investigation into the Isheri Day Festival shooting incident that led to the death of a youth, Damilare Adelani.

The state police boss said the incident which happened August 13, was allegedly carried out by a suspected soldiers believed to be from Ikeja Cantonment.

Speaking in a statement signed by the Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the police commissioner said the shooting will be investigated with a view to bringing those responsible to justice.

Makama said that “credible information at the disposal of the command has it that on the said date, four men of the Nigerian Army believed to be from Ikeja Cantonment and posted to Kara Market left their beats and went to Isheri Olofin, a border town between Lagos and Ogun states where the indigenes of the town were celebrating their annual Isheri Day.

“The soldiers on getting there had a minor disagreement with some youth which made the soldiers to start shooting sporadically into the air.

“Consequently, Damilare Adelani was hit by bullets and he died on the spot. The ugly incident infuriated the people at the scene who in turn reacted violently against the soldiers leaving one of the soldiers and three other civilians injured.

“The soldiers quickly took their injured colleague to a hospital (name withheld) where they met one of the injured civilians being attended to by a medical doctor on duty. The statement from the officials of the hospital reveals that the soldiers ordered the doctor at gun point to leave the injured man and attend to their colleague.

“They then dragged the patient out of the bed and subsequently, stabbed him to death with a bayonet attached to the muzzle of their rifles.”

Meanwhile, the command had also contacted the military authorities in Ogun state and efforts are in place to ensure that the suspected killer(s) are brought to book.