- We'll not see Daddy again –Children
- The police have killed me –Wife
- Who'll pay my school fees? –Sister
- We will do our utmost best to ensure proper investigation –IGP
On Tuesday, the anger of Lagos residents was again kindled against the police. Reason: Olalekan Ajayi, a commercial motorcycle (Okada) operator was allegedly shot dead by a trigger-happy cop. THOMAS USHIE was with the grieving family he left behind.The woman sat huddled in a corner of the room clutching the tiny hands of one of her daughters. She stared straight and sightlessly into space. Once in a while she heaved a deep sigh. Anytime she did this, a torrent of tears cascaded down her cheeks.
Behold Mrs Alaba Ajayi, the widow of Olalekan Ajayi, the commercial motorcycle (okada) allegedy shot dead by a trigger-happy policeman identified as Haruna. After each deep sigh came a torrent of interjections and soliloquising which sometimes were incoherent: "The tree on which they lean on has fallen!" Olalekan Ajayi is dead!" "My husband is dead!"
"They killed him!" "The police have killed me o o oh!" "The police have finished me" and so on. Ajayi allegedly fell to the bullets from the gun of a policeman at Ladega Street, Olubode, Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State. Drawing her daughter, Damilola, further to herself, the new widow fought back tears to speak further. She said: "Since Tuesday that the incident took place, we have been suffering sleepless night.
How can we sleep when the person taking care of us was killed without committing any crime and has been deposited in the mortuary?" Now, she was wailing uncontrollably. Apparently piqued by this, her other daughters, Opeyemi and Tawa (both of primary school age) moved closer to her to console her. They could not. They also joined in the wailing. The tear glands of almost everybody present now burst. They were all in tears.
"Look at my children. Look at them. Who would take care of them? They are in school. Who would take care of them? I am finished. The government must do something about the death of my husband," Alaba managed to gasp amidst tears.
And as her children wept with her, Damilola quipped: "We will not see Daddy again". Speaking with Saturday Mirror at the General Hospital Ikorodu, where the body of the late Olalekan was deposited, his sister, Tayo Ajayi described him as the bread winner of the family who also promised to make sure that she is well educated. "He is the one taking care of all of us since our father died. My mother is about 65 years old. Lekan was the one taking care of her.
Lekan had children and wife. What will happen to my mother now? What will happen to his children and wife? Who would take care of us? Before he was killed, he promised to pay my school fees, register me for external West African General Certificate Examination. Who will pay my school fees? The government should come to our rescue and make sure that the policeman that killed my brother does not escape justice.
The government should make sure that the children he left behind do not end up in the streets as destitute," an enraged Miss Ajayi who was immersed in tears, said while being consoled by friends.
And as the members of Ikorodu branch of the Association of Commercial Motorcyclists Owners and Riders of Nigeria (ACOMORON) on August 21 protested the alleged murder of Ajayi by a policeman. They called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the killer of their colleague.
"We don't have problem with the Nigerian Police. We are law abiding Lagosians doing lawful job to survive. But we have problem with the particular policeman who killed Olalekan, our brother and colleague. All we want now is justice.
The killer of Lekan must face the law because that is not what the government asked him to do. Lekan was a gentleman. He was not a troublesome man. I wonder why a policeman would point his gun at an innocent young man with family to take care of and kill him.
That policeman, Haruna, should be arrested and prosecuted," the chairman of the association, Kayode Jimoh, said. Speaking in the same vein, a protesting member of the group who simply identified himself as Freshboy, alleged that "it is not the first time this is happening in Ikorodu.
They said that we should not ply the highway again and most of us have stopped doing so. Unfortunately, whenever the police did not see bikes to arrest on the routes the government said we should not ply, they will start arresting anybody anywhere in the streets and demanding money from them. This is not fair at all."
Narrating how the late Ajayi met his untimely death, one of his colleagues, Ganiyu, said: "Olalekan was riding on his bike when he and others were accosted by some policemen on patrol at Ladega Street. The Rapid Response Squad policemen wanted to take the bikes away as they usually do before we would go and 'settle' them. I know that Lekan is a gentleman and he would not have engaged in any fight with them to warrant being shot. Two of them were arrested that particular day and time.
When the other one refused to hand over his bike because he was arrested the previous day and he 'settled', one of the policemen called Haruna, shot him but the bullet did not enter his body because he 'knows his level' (protected by magic power).
"So, the policeman turned the gun at Olalekan and shot him thrice. I don't know whether Haruna the policeman, wanted to make sure that his gun was working well by testing it on Olalekan. That is the question we want the police authority and the Lagos State Government to ask the policeman. That is why we are protesting."
Also lamenting, an obviously distressed uncle of the diseased, Tunde Ajayi, called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to ensure that Lagosians are ruled by the law rather than man, while decrying the spate of jungle justice being visited on innocent Nigerians in the state. "The late Olalekan was my nephew. I got a distressed call yesterday that he was shot to death by unidentified policeman.
He was shot by Rapid Response Squad police man at Ladega Street while struggling to eke a living as Okada rider (commercial motor cyclist operator) on August 20. He was a gentle, friendly and peace loving man who loved and cared for his family.
His children, wife, aged mother, sister, who depended on him for survival would forever miss him," he added. Responding swiftly to the calls for the arrest and prosecution of the cop that allegedly killed Ajayi, the Lagos State Police Command, said on Wednesday, a day after the mass protest by the deceased's colleagues, friends and family, that the suspects had been arrested. According to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide, "Four of them are already in police custody, including the officer who shot the motorcyclist".
The PPRO disclosed that "The policeman who was attacked by the motorcyclists is being treated at a hospital" while assuring that the police authority would carry out thorough investigation into the killing and ensure that justice is done. Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammad Abubakar, has called for calm to enable the Police authorities wade into the matter and ensure that justice is served. The IGP condoled with the bereaved relations, friends and colleagues of the late Ajayi.
While promising that the Force would do its utmost best to ensure that the investigation into the death is properly done and concluded in record time, the IGP called on all aggrieved persons to remain calm and patient. He also directed the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State to take proper steps to ensure that justice is expeditiously done on the matter.
National Mirror