Oyoma Edewor
The
family of the Lagos-based building contractor, Oyoma Edewor, who was
shot dead by a police sergeant, Godwin Otene, in the FESTAC area of the
state on Saturday, has asked the police to prosecute the killer cop.
The family said Otene should be charged with murder, adding that he killed the 33-year-old victim intentionally.
PUNCH Metro had reported on
Tuesday that Oyoma, whose car broke down while returning to his house in
FESTAC, had hired a towing van to convey the vehicle home.
While on the way, three policemen at a
checkpoint around Third Gate Bus Stop, were said to have asked the
driver of the towing van to stop, but he reportedly ignored the order.
The police were said to have forced the driver to stop after giving him a chase.
Oyoma was reportedly asked to sit on the floor, remove his shirt, before he was shot dead by Otene.
The Police Public Relations Officer,
Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, in a statement, had said the police
had arrested the killer cop and investigation had begun.
But the victim’s family on Tuesday said the police might be buying time to make the incident fizzle out.
Oyoma’s sister, Kuvie Edewor, said the
deceased was supposed to be the best man in a family wedding slated for
June before he was murdered in cold blood.
She said, “He was planning to expand his
business when he was killed. He was also supposed to be my brother’s
best man next month, but now everything has been cancelled because of
the tragedy.
“This is more painful for our mother
because she left Nigeria in 2012 after she was diagnosed with cancer
when our father died. She just returned to Nigeria in May, this year,
for the wedding. The last time she was Nigeria, it was to bury her
husband, and now that she came back, she would be burying her son. She’s
going crazy right now.
“I don’t believe justice will be done.
What are the police still investigating? They are supposed to be taking
actions, not investigating. This thing happened in the presence of many
policemen. The other policemen that were present have made their
statements, so what are they still talking about? They just want the
smoke to die down and then nothing will be done. You (the policeman)
asked him (Oyoma) to sit on the floor, he did. You said remove your
shirt, he did. And then you still shot at him. This is plain murder.”
Our correspondent learnt that Oyoma was the third to be killed by policemen in the area.
It was gathered that the youths in the
area were planning a rally for the deceased and also to protest the
frequency of such incident in the area.
A former resident of FESTAC, now based
in the United States, Morounkeji Akerele, said his elder brother,
Morakinyo, was also killed in a similar fashion.
Akerele, who claimed to be a former
school mate of the late Oyoma, said, “It was a shock to me when I heard
they have also killed Oyoma. So many of us have lost our family members
and usually, absolutely nothing has been done by the government and the
Nigeria Police Force to bring these policemen to justice.”
The Chairman of the Amuwo Odofin Local
Government Area, Ayodele Adewale, while condemning the incident, said he
had paid a condolence visit to the family of the victim.
“I will be writing to the governor to
institute a panel of inquiry into this. This extra-judicial killing by
the police must stop. Nobody has the right to take another person’s
life.
“There is a lot of terror in my area. I
narrowly escaped death in the hands of some of these people. There have
been a lot of robberies which have continued unabated,” he said.
PUNCH
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