Idris Bakare, a 24-year-old Lagos State resident, was partying late on Sunday night.

In the company of Mueez Akilo, a friend of his, Bakare left his house on Baale street, Oregun, Ikeja, to go spend the evening at parties. Both men had fun, by Akilo’s account, and returned to their neighbourhood sometime around 10 pm. Bakare felt the night had more to offer, and suggested to his friend that they both go to Fela’s Shrine in Ikeja the same night. Akilo, whose house was only a stone’s throw away from Bakare’s, rejected this idea.

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“Why go to the shrine when we can go to a party nearby?” Akilo asked Bakare. Both men saw eye to eye on this suggestion, and were soon dancing at another party.

When FIJ visited the Bakare family on Tuesday, the entire household was mourning, but Akilo was more in shock than anything else.

Speaking with FIJ, he said they both did not know what party they were going to, but they went anyway.

“Moments after, Bakare said he wanted to charge his phone, so he left there and came home to charge,” Akilo narrated to FIJ.

“The time was almost 12 am.”

KILLER COP KABIRU ODEJIMI BRINGS DEATH TO BAKARE

Bakare’s intention was to plug his phone and return to the party, but as he made his way back out of his house, what he met was chaos. People were running frantically in the dead of the night, but he kept approaching the thick of the action. What residents were running from was a familiar foe: Kabiru Odejimi, a policeman attached to the Alausa Police Division.

Akilo said Odejimi was a regular in the area, and would drive down there with his colleagues, park his vehicle and start harassing people. That day, he cocked his gun, shot and grazed the head of someone who was running from him.

His second shot took the legs from under Bakare. The bullet travelled from across the street and hit the 24-year-old on his thigh. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground writhing in pain.

“Bakare removed his shirt and started pressing the leg so that blood would not escape too much,” Akilo narrated further.

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“People gathered to help carry him into a primary healthcare center across the road, but Odejimi stopped them.

“He told them to drop him, and said if anyone dared touch him, he would shoot them. He then began asking Bakare for his identity. When Bakare introduced himself, Odejimi grabbed him and dragged him through the streets into the vehicle.”

Throughout the period, none of the other policemen intervened.

BAKARE FAMILY SEEK ANSWERS

Shortly after midnight, Bakare’s family approached the Alausa Police Division for answers.

There, the DPO told them Odejimi could not have been in their area as he was not on duty that day. When the DPO called him, he confirmed he was there and confessed to shooting someone, but said he was ‘handling it’. She instructed that he take Bakare to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Center (LASAEC).

Bakare was pronounced dead at about 1 am. His lifeless body was seen by his family members when they visited LASAEC in the wee hours of Monday morning.

Idowu Owohunwa, Lagos Commissioner of Police, visited the Bakare family on Tuesday, and told the family Odejimi was in custody.

He promised to take action and carry the family along.

When FIJ attempted to speak with the slain man’s parents, they were in mourning, and unable to comment. All they kept demanding was for justice for their son.

FIJ called Benjamin Hundeyin, Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, but he did not take our calls. He also did not reply to a message sent to him on Tuesday.

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.