Published 14th Oct, 2021

By Tola Owoyele

A trigger-happy police officer has shot at a road user identified as Akorede in Oru, a town very close to Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, during a stop-and-search operation on Wednesday.

According to a tweet by an eyewitness who simply identified as Dammy, the policeman shot Akorede in the leg without provocation.

“Police brutality is still ongoing,” Dammy said in a tweet on Thursday. “This happened during a ‘stop and search’ in Odogbolu, Ijebu Ode, yesterday, 13th October, 2021. The victim, Akorede was stopped and suddenly this police officer brought out his gun and shot him without provocation.”

While confirming the incident, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun police spokesperson, told FIJ that the officer involved had been arrested.

Oyeyemi also said that the victim was taken to the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment, and that the Ogun State Police Command would likely issue a press statement on the incident once investigation is concluded.

“I can confirm to you that the incident indeed happened at Oru, very close to Ijebu Ode, yesterday,” he said. “The policeman involved has been arrested and investigation is ongoing.”

The incident adds to the growing list of police indiscriminate shootings in the country. On September 10, Monsurat Ojuade, 18, was shot at and killed by a police officer attached to the Panti Police Division, Surulere, Lagos State, during a raid carried in the Shomolu area of the state.

The policeman was said to have fired into the compound in which Monsurat lived as she was fleeing to safety.

Incidents of police harrassment and killings resulted in the October 2020 #EndSARS protest against police brutality in the country.

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